THE 



BLACK MAN, 



HIS ANTECEDENTS, HIS GENIUS, 
AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. 



BY 



WILLIAM WELLS BROWN, 

AUTHOR OF " CLOTELLE," "SKETCHES OF PLACES AND PEOPLE ABROAD,' 
" MIRALDA, OR THE BEAUTIFUL QUADROON," ETC. 



EX PEDE HERCULEM. 



FOURTH EDITION". 



BOSTON : 
ROBERT F. WALLCUT, 221 WASHINGTON ST 

1865. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1803, by 

WILLIAM WELLS BROWN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 









STEREOTYPIC AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTyP-3 FOUNDRY. 



TO 



THE ADVOCATES AND FRIENDS 



OF 



, NEGRO FREEDOM AND EQUALITY, 



WHEREVER FOUND, 



®Ijis Wolximt is gUspettfuIIg ^lebitattb, 



BY THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



The calumniators and traducers of the Negro are 
to be found, mainly, among two classes. The first 
and most relentless are those who have done them 
the greatest injury, by being instrumental in their 
enslavement and consequent degradation. They de- 
light to descant upon the "natural inferiority" of 
the blacks, and claim that we were destined only for 
a servile condition, entitled neither to liberty nor the 
legitimate pursuit of happiness. The second class 
are those who are ignorant of the characteristics of 
the race, and are the mere echoes of the first. To 
meet and refute these misrepresentations, and to 
supply a deficiency, long felt in the community, of a 
work containing sketches of individuals who, by their 
own genius, capacity, and intellectual development, 
have surmounted the many obstacles which slavery 
1* 



6 PREFACE. 

and prejudice have thrown in their way, and raised 
themselves to positions of honor and influence, this 
volume was written. The characters represented in 
most of these biographies are for the first time put 
in print. The author's long sojourn in Europe, his 
opportunity of research amid the archives of England 
and France, and his visit to the West Indies, have 
given him the advantage of information respecting 
the blacks seldom acquired. 

If this work shall aid in vindicating the Negro's 
character, and show that he is endowed with those 
intellectual and amiable qualities which adorn and 
dignify human nature, it will meet the most san- 
guine hopes of the writer. 

Cambkidgeport, Mass., 1863. 



■CONTENTS. 



PAGB 

Memoir of the Author, H 

The Black Man and his Antecedents, • • • .31 

THE BLACK MAN, HIS GENIUS AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Benjamin Banneker, 51 

Nat Turner, 59 

Madison Washington, 75 

Henry Bibb, 86 

Placido, 88 

Jeremiah B. Sanderson, 91 

Toussaint L'Ouverture, 92 

Crispus Attucks, • • • • 106 

Dessalines, HO 

Ira Aldridge, 118 

Joseph Cinque, 124 

Alexandre Dumas, 128 

Henri Christophe, 132 

Phillis Wheatlet, .,' 138 

Denmark Veset, . 142 

Henry Highland Garnett, 149 

(T) 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAoa 
James M. Whitfield, 152 

Andre Rigaud, 153 

Frances Ellen Watkins, 160 

Ex-President Roberts, 163 

Alexander Crummell, 165 

Alexandre Petion, 169 

Martin R. Delany, M. D., 174 

Robert Small, 175 

Frederick Douglass, 180 

Charles L. Reason, 187 

Charlotte L. Eorten, 190 

William H. Simpson, 199 

Jean Pierre Boyer, 202 

James M'Cune Smith, M. D., 205 

Bishop Payne, 207 

William Still, 211 

Edwin M. Bannister, 214 

Leonard A. Grimes, 217 

President Geffrard, 220 

George B. Vashon, 223 

Robert Morris, 227 

William J. Wilson, . . 230 

John Mercer Langston, 235 

William C. Nell, 238 

John Sella Martin, 241 

Charles Lenox Remond, 246 

George T. Downing, ........ 250 

Robert Purvis, 253 

Joseph Jenkins, 259 



CONTENTS. 9 

PAGB 

John S. Kock, 266 

William Douglass, . . 271 

Eltmas Patson Kogees, 272 

J. Theodore Holly, . 274 

Makes W. C. Pennington, 276 

A Man without a Name, 278 

Samuel K. Ward, 284 

Sir Edward Jordan, ■ 286 

Joseph Carter, 288 

James Lawson, 291 

Capt. Callioux, 297 

Capt. Joseph Howard, 308 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



I was born at Lexington, Kentucky. My father, as I 
was informed, was a member of the Wickliffe family ; my 
mother was of mixed blood ; her father, it was said, was 
the noted Daniel Boone, and her mother a negress. My 
early life on the plantation was such as generally falls to 
the lot of the young slave, till I arrived at the age of nine 
years, when my position was changed. My master's brother 
lost his wife, she leaving an infant son a few months old, 
whom my mistress took to bring up. "When this boy be- 
came old enough to need a playmate to watch over him, 
mistress called the young slaves together, to select one for 
the purpose. We were all ordered to run, jump, wrestle, 
turn somersets, walk on our hands, and go through the 
various gymnastic exercises that the imagination of our 
brain could invent, or the strength and activity of our 
limbs could endure. The selection was to be an important 
one, both to the mistress and the slave. Whoever should 
gain the place was in the future to become a house servant ; 
the ask-cake thrown aside, that unmentionable garment 
that buttons around the neck, which we all wore, and 
nothing else, was to give way to the whole suit of tow 
linen. Every one of us joined heartily in the contest, 
while old mistress sat on the piazza, watching our every 
movement — some fifteen of us, each dressed in his one 
garment, sometimes standing on our heads with feet in the 
air — still the lady looked on. With me it seemed a 

(ii) 



12 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

matter of life and death ; for, being blood kin to master, I 
felt that I had more at stake than my companions. At 
last the choice was made, and I was told to step aside as 
the " lucky boy," which order I obeyed with an alacrity 
seldom surpassed. That night I was put to soak, after 
which I was scraped, scrubbed, washed, and dried. The 
next day, the new suit came down to the quarters; I 
slipped into it ; the young slaves gathered about me, and I 
was the star of the plantation. My mother, one of the best 
of mothers, placed her hands on my head, and, with tears 
in her eyes, said, " I knowed you was born for good luck, 
for a fortune-teller told me so when you was a baby layin' 
in your little sugar trough. Go up to de great house where 
you belong." With this blessing I bade farewell to the log 
hut and the dirt floor, and started towards the " big house." 
Mistress received me, and laid down the law which was to 
govern my future actions. "I give your young master 
over to you," said she ; " and if you let him hurt himself, 
I'll pull your ears ; if you let him cry, I'll pull your ears ; 
if he wants any thing, and you don't give it to him, I'll 
pull your ears ; when he goes to sleep, if you let him wake 
before it is time, I'll pull your ears." And right well did 
she keep her promise, for my ears felt the impress of her 
tender fingers and gold rings almost every day, and at 
times nearly every hour. 

Yet I would not have you suppose, gentle reader, that 
my old mistress was "of low or common origin ; but on the 
contrary, she boasted that the best blood of the south 
coursed through her blue veins. My master, Dr. John 
Young, was a man of considerable standing in his section 
of the state. A member of the church, his seat was not 
often empty during religious service. He was very strict 
as to the observance of the Sabbath, held prayer night and 
morning, and entertained more travelling preachers than 
almost any one in his neighborhood. 

The doctor did not surpass his wife in devotedness to 



MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 13 

religious observances. Of these travelling ministers, each 
had a favorite, who in turn used to spend several days on 
the plantation, hunting, shooting, fishing, visiting, and at 
times preaching. The Rev. Mr. Pinchen was my mistress's 
favorite, and he was indeed an interesting character. Short 
and stout, somewhat inclined to corpulency, deeply pock- 
marked, quick in his motions, and with a strong voice, he 
was one of the funniest of men when telling his long stories 
about his religious and other experience in the south. 

I had been in the great house nearly three years, when 
Mr. Pinchen was expected to make his annual visit. The 
stir about the dwelling, the cleaning of paint, the scalding 
out of the bedbugs, and the orders and counter-orders 
from Mrs. Young, showed plainly that something uncom- 
mon was to take place. High and angry words had passed 
between master and mistress, one morning, when the latter 
weepingly and snufflingly exclaimed, " Never mind ; you'll 
not have me here always to hector and to worry : I'll die 
one of these days, and then you'll be glad of it. Never 
mind ; keep on, and you'll send me to, my grave before the 
time. Never mind ; one of these days the Lord will make 
up his jewels, call me home to glory, and I'll be out of your 
way, and I'll be devilish glad of it too." Her weeping in- 
creased, and she continued, "Never mind; brother Pinchen 
will be here soon, and then I'll have somebody to talk to 
me about religion." At this moment, Hannah, the waiting 
maid, entered the room, and Mrs. Young gave orders with 
regard to Mr. Pinchen's visit. " Go, Hannah," said she, 
" and get the chamber ready for brother Pinchen : put on 
the new linen sheets, and see that they are dry, and well 
aired ; if they are not, I'll air you, my lady." The arrival 
of the clergyman, the next day, was the signal for new and 
interesting scenes. After the first morning's breakfast 
was over, family prayer finished, the Bible put away, the 
brandy replaced in the sideboard, and Dr. Young gone to 
his oflice, Mr. Pinchen commenced the delivery of one of 
2 



14 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

those religious experiences for which he was so celebrated 
wherever he was known. Mrs. Young and the minister 
were seated at the round table, I standing behind her 
ohair, and Hannah clearing off the breakfast table, when 
the servant of God began by saying, " Well, sister Young, 
I've seen a heap since I was here last." 

"I am so glad to hear it," responded she, "for I want to 
hear something good. Now do give me your experience, 
brother Pinchen ; it always draws me nearer and nearer to 
the Lord's side." 

" Well, sister Young, I've had great opportunity in my 
time to study the human heart. I've attended a great 
many camp meetings, revival meetings, protracted meet- 
ings, and death-bed scenes, and I am satisfied, sister Young, 
that the heart of man is full of sin and desperately wicked. 
This is a wicked world, sister, a wicked world." 

Mrs. Young asked, " Were you ever in Arkansas, brother 
Pinchen? I've been told that the people out there are 
very ungodly." 

Mr. Pinchen said, " O, yes, sister Young ; I once spent a 
year at Little Rock, and preached in all the towns round 
about there ; and I found some hard cases out there, I can 
tell you. I was once spending a week in a district where 
there were a great many horse thieves, and one night 
somebody stole my pony. Well, I knowed it was no use 
to make a fuss ; so I told brother Tarbox to say nothing 
about it, and I'd get my horse by preaching God's ever- 
lasting gospel ; for I had faith in the truth, and knowed 
that my Saviour would not let me lose my pony. So the 
next Sunday I preached on horse-stealing, and told the 
brethren to come up in the evenin' with their hearts filled 
with the grace of God. So that night the house was 
crammed brim full with anxious souls, panting for the 
bread of life. Brother Bingham opened with prayer, and 
brother Tarbox followed, and I saw right off that we were 
gwine to have a blessed time. After 1 got 'em pretty well 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 15 

warmed up, I jumped on to one of the seats, stretched out 
my hands, and said : ' I know who stole my pony ; I've 
found out ; and you are here tryin' to make people believe 
that you've got religion ; but you ain't got it. And if you 
don't take my horse back to brother Tafbox's pasture this 
very night, I'll tell your name right out in meetin' to-mor- 
row night. Take my pony back, you vile and wretched 
sinner, and come up here and give your heart to God.' 
So the next mornin', I went out to brother Tarbox's pas- 
ture, and sure enough, there was my bob-tail pony. Yes, 
sister, there he was, safe and sound. Ha, ha, ha ! " 

With uplifted hands, old mistress exclaimed, " O, how 
interesting, and how fortunate for you to get your pony ! 
And what power there is in the gospel ! God's children 
are very lucky. O, it is so sweet to sit here and listen to 
such good news from God's people ! " 

Hannah was so entranced with the conversation that she 
had left her work, and, with eyes and mouth open, was 
listening to the preacher. Turning aside, and in a low 
voice, Mrs. Young harshly said, " Hannah, what are you 
standing there listening for, and neglecting your work? 
Never mind, my lady, I'll whip you well when I am done 
here. Go at your work this moment, you lazy hussy. 
Never mind, I'll whip you well." Then, turning again to 
the preacher, she said, " Come, do go on, brother Pinchen, 
with your godly conversation. It is so sweet ! It draws 
me nearer and nearer to the Lord's side." 

"Well, sister Young," continued he, "I've had some 
mighty queer dreams in my time — that I have. You see, 
one night I dreamed that I was dead and in heaven ; and 
such a place I never saw before. As soon as I entered the 
gates of the celestial empire, I saw many old and familiar 
faces that I had seen before. The first person that I saw 
was good old Elder Pike, the preacher that first called my 
attention to religion. The next person I saw was Deacon 
Billings, my first wife's father ; and then I saw a host of 



16 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

godly faces. Why, sister Young, you knew Elder Goosbee 
— didn't you?" 

" Yes," replied she ; " did you see him there ? " 

" O, yes, sister Young, I saw the elder, and he looked 
for all the world as if he had just come out of a revival 
meeting." 

" Did you see my first husband there, brother Pinchen ? " 

" No, sister Young, I didn't see brother Pepper, but I've 
no doubt but that' he was there." 

"Well, I don't know," said she; "I have my doubts. 
He was not the happiest man in the world. He was always 
borrowing trouble about something or another. Still, I 
saw some happy moments with Mr. Pepper. I was happy 
when I made his acquaintance, happy during our courtship, 
happy a while after our marriage, and happy when he died." 

Here she put her handkerchief to her eyes, and wept 
bitterly for a moment. At this juncture Hannah asked, 
"Did you see my husband, Ben, up in hebben, Massa 
Pinchen ? " 

" No, no, Hannah, I didn't go amongst the blacks," an- 
swered he. 

" Of course not," said mistress ; " brother Pinchen didn't 
go among the niggers." Turning aside to Hannah, and in 
a whisper, she exclaimed, " What are you asking questions 
for ? Never mind, my lady, I'll whip you well when I'm 
done here. I'll skin you from head to foot. Do go on with 
your heavenly conversation, brother Pinchen ; it does my 
very soul good. This is indeed a precious moment for me. 
I do love to hear of Christ and him crucified." 

After the conversation had ceased, and the preacher 
gone out to call on Mrs. Daniels, Mrs. Young said to the 
maid, "Now, Hannah, brother Pinchen is gone; you get 
the cowhide, and I'll whip you well, for aggravating me as 
you did to-day. It seems as if I can never sit down to 
take a little comfort with the Lord, without the devil put- 
ting it into your head to cross me. I've no doubt, Han- 



MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 17 

nah, that I'll miss going to heaven on your account ; but 
I'll whip you well before I leave this world — that I will." 
The servant received a flogging, Mrs. Young felt easier, 
and I was in the kitchen amusing my fellow-slaves with 
telling over Mr. Pinchen's last experience. Here let me 
say, that we regarded the religious profession of the whites 
around us as a farce, and our master and mistress, together 
with their guest, as mere hypocrites. During the entire 
visit of the preacher, the servants had a joyful time over 
my representations of what was going on in the great 
house. 

The removal of my master's family and slaves to the 
centre of the State of Missouri about this time, caused 
some change in our condition. My young master, William, 
had now grown to be a stout boy of five years of age. No 
restraint thrown around him by the doctor or his wife, aunt 
Dolly, his nurse, not permitted to control any of his ac- 
tions, William had become impudent, petulant, peevish, 
and cruel. Sitting at the tea table, he would often desire 
to make his entire meal out of the sweetmeats, the sugar- 
bowl, or the cake ; and when mistress would not allow him 
to have them, he, in a fit of anger, would throw any thing 
within his reach at me; spoons, knives, forks, and dishes 
would be hurled at my head, accompanied with language 
such as would astonish any one not well versed in the in- 
jurious effects of slavery upon the rising generation. 
Thomas Jefferson, in 1788, in a letter to M. Warville, 
Paris, writing upon slavery, alludes to its influence upon 
the young as follows : — 

" The parent storms, the child looks on, catches the linea- 
ments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the circle of smaller 
slaves, gives loose to his worst passions; and, thus 
nursed, educated, and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot 
but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities." 

In the Virginia legislature, in the year 1832, Hon. 
Lewis Summers said, — 
2* 



18 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

"A slave population exercises the most pernicious injlu* 
ence upon the manners, habits, and character of those 
among whom it exists. Lisping infancy learns the vocab- 
ulary of abusive epithets, and struts, the embryo tyrant of 
its little domain. The consciousness of superior destiny 
takes possession of his mind at its earliest dawning, and 
lone of power and rule 'grows with his growth and 
strengthens with his strength.' Unless enabled to rise 
above the operation of those powerful causes, he enters the 
world with miserable notions of self-importance, and under 
9 the government of an unbridled temper V 

Having, by speculation and mismanagement, lost the 
most of his property, Dr. Young resumed the practice of 
medicine in Missouri, and soon obtained a lucrative run of 
custom. ■ Here, as in Kentucky, the doctor took great 
interest in matters of religion, and was considered one of 
the pillars in the church. 

Being sent one Sabbath morning to carry the sacra- 
mental wine to the church, about a mile distant, I could 
not withstand the temptation it presented of tasting it. 
Having had one swallow, I was tempted further on, till the 
beverage disappeared out of the neck of the bottle, so that 
I felt afraid that if noticed by master, I should be flogged. 
It occurred to me that I might fill up the bottle from one 
of the sap tubs, as I passed through the sugar camp ; for it 
was the spring of the year, and we were making maple 
sugar. I tried to pour the sap into the bottle, but it flared 
over the top, leaving the wine still some inches down the 
• neck. After ransacking my inventive faculties, I fortu- 
nately hit upon a plan and filled it up. Placing the bottle 
on the ground, and sucking my mouth full of the juice, I 
stood directly over the bottle and let it stream in until it 
was full. Putting the stopple in, I started off towards the 
church, feeling that I had got the advantage of master 
once more. 

My fair complexion was a great obstacle to my happi- 



MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 19 

ness, both with whites and blacks, in and about the great 
house. Often mistaken by strangers for a white boy, it 
annoyed my mistress very much. On one occasion, a 
visitor came to the place in the absence of the doctor. 
While Mrs. Young was entertaining the major (for he was 
a military man), I passed through the room, and going- 
near the stranger, he put out his hand and said to me, 
" How do you do, bub ? " and turning to the lady, he ex- 
claimed, " Madam, I would have known that he was the 
doctor's son, if I had met him in California, for he is so 
much like his papa." Mistress ordered me out of the 
room, and remarked that I was one of the servants, when 
the major begged pardon for the mistake. After the 
stranger was gone, I was flogged for his blunder. 

Dr. Young sold his large farm, which was situated in 
the central part of the state, and removed to St. Louis, 
where a number of the servants were let out. I was put 
to work tending upon the hands in the office of the " St. 
Louis Times," a newspaper owned and published by Love- 
joy & Miller, and edited by Elijah P. Lovejoy. Here my 
young heart began to feel more longings for liberty. The 
love of freedom is a sentiment natural to the human heart, 
and the want of it is felt by him who does not possess it. 
He feels it a reproach ; and with this sting, this wounded 
pride, hating degradation, and looking forward to the 
cravings of the heart, the enslaved is always on the alert 
for an opportunity to escape from his oppressors and to 
■avenge his wrongs. What greater injury and indignity 
can be offered to man, than to make him the bond-slave of 
his fellow-man ? 

My sojourn in the printing office was of short duration, 
and I was afterwards let out to a slave-trader named 
Walker. This heartless, cruel, ungodly man, who neither 
loved his Maker nor feared Satan, was a fair representative 
of thousands of demons in human form that are engaged 
in buying and selling God's children. 



20 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

One year with Walker, beholding scenes of cruelty that 
can be better imagined than described, I was once more 
taken home, and soon after hired out as an under steward 
on the steamer Patriot, running to New Orleans. This 
opened to me a new life, and gave me an opportunity to 
see different phases of slave life, and to learn something 
more of the world. Life on the Mississippi River is an 
exciting one. I had not been on the boat but a few weeks 
when one of those races for which the southern steamers 
are so famous took place. 

At eight o'clock on the evening of the third day of the 
passage, the lights of another steamer were seen in the 
distance, and apparently coming up very fast. This was 
the signal for a general commotion on board the Patriot, 
and every thing indicated that a steamboat race was at 
hand. Nothing can exceed the excitement attendant upon 
the racing of steamers on the Mississippi. 

By the time the boats had reached Memphis they were 
side by side, and each exerting itself to get in advance of 
the other. The night was clear, the moon shining brightly, 
and the boats so near to each other that the passengers 
were within speaking distance. On board the Patriot the 
firemen were using oil, lard, butter, and even bacon, with 
wood, for the purpose of raising the steam to its highest 
pitch. The blaze mingled with the black smoke that issued 
from the pipes of the other boat, which showed that she 
also was burning something more combustible than wood. 

The firemen of both boats, who were slaves, were sing- 
ing songs such as can only be heard on board a southern 
steamer. The boats now came abreast of each other, and 
nearer and nearer, until they were locked so that men 
could pass from one to the other. The wildest excitement 
prevailed among the men employed on the steamers, in 
which the passengers freely participated. 

At this moment the engineer of the Patriot was seen to 
fasten down the safety-valve, so that no steam should 



MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 21 

escape. This was indeed a dangerous resort, and a few 
who saw what had taken place, fearing that an explosion 
would be the consequence, left that part of the boat for 
more secure quarters. 

The Patriot now stopped to take in passengers ; but still 
no steam was permitted to escape. On the starting of the 
boat again, cold water was forced into the boilers by the 
feed-pumps, and, as might have been expected, one of the 
boilers exploded with terrific force, carrying away the 
boiler deck and tearing to pieces much of the machinery. 
One dense fog of steam filled every part of the vessel, 
while shrieks, groans,' and cries were heard on every side. 
Men were running hither and thither lboking for their 
wives, and women were flying about, in the wildest con- 
fusion, seeking for their husbands. Dismay appeared on 
every countenance. 

The saloons and cabins soon looked more like hospitals 
than any thing else; but by this time the Patriot had 
drifted to the shore, and the other steamer had come along- 
side to render assistance to the disabled boat. The killed 
and wounded (nineteen in number) were put on shore, and 
the Patriot, taken in tow by the Washington, was once 
more on her journey. 

It was half past twelve, and the passengers, instead of re- 
tiring to their berths, once more assembled at the gaming 
tables. The practice of gambling on the western waters 
has long been a source of annoyance to the more moral 
persons who travel on our great rivers. Thousands of dol- 
lars often change owners during a passage from St. Louis 
or Louisville to New Orleans on a Mississippi steamer. 
Many men are completely ruined on such occasions, and 
duels are often the consequence. 

" Go call my boy, steward," said Mr. Jones, as he took 
his cards one by one from the table. 

In a few minutes a fine-looking, bright-eyed mulatto 
boy, apparently about sixteen years of age, was standing 
by his master's side at the table. 



22 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

" I am broke, all but my boy," said Jones, as be ran his 
fingers through his cards ; " but he is worth a thousand 
dollars, and I will bet the half of him." 

" I will call you," said Thompson, as he laid five hundred 
dollars at the feet of the boy, who was standing on the 
table, and at the same time throwing down his cards before 
his adversary. 

"You have beaten me," said Jones; and a roar of laugh- 
ter followed from the other gentleman as poor Joe stepped 
down from the table. 

"Well, I suppose I owe you half the nigger," said 
Thompson, as he took hold of Joe "and began examining 
his limbs. ■ 

"Yes," replied Jones, "he is half yours. Let me have 
five hundred dollars, and I will give you a bill of sale of 
the boy." 

" Go back to your bed," said Thompson to his chattel, 
" and remember that you now belong to me." 

The poor slave wiped the tears from his eyes, as, in 
obedience, he turned to leave the table. 

" My father gave me that boy," said Jones, as he took 
the money, "and I hope, Mr. Thompson, that you will 
allow me to redeem him." 

"Most certainly, sir," replied Thompson; "whenever 
you hand over the cool thousand the negro is yours." 

Next morning, as the passengers were assembling in the 
cabin and on deck, and while the slaves were runninsr 
about waiting on or looking for their masters, poor Joe 
was seen entering his new master's state-room, boots in 
hand. 

Such is the uncertainty of a slave's life. He goes to bed 
at night the pampered servant of his young master, with 
whom he has played in childhood, and who would not see 
his slave abused under any consideration, and gets up in 
the morning the property of a man whom he has never 
before seen. 

To behold five or six tables in the saloon of a steamer, 



MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 23 

with half a dozen men playing cards at each, with 
money, pistols, and bowie-knives spread in splendid con- 
fusion before them, is an ordinary thing on the Mississippi 
River. 

Continued intercourse with educated persons, and meet- 
ing on the steamer so many travellers from the free states, 
caused me to feel more keenly my degraded and unnatural 
situation. I gained much information respecting the north 
and Canada that was valuable to me, and I resolved to 
escape with my mother, who had been sold to a gentleman 
in St. Louis. The attempt was made, but we were unsuc- 
cessful. I was then sold to Mr. Samuel Willi, a merchant 
tailor. I was again let out to be employed on a Mississippi 
steamboat, but was soon after sold to Captain E. Price, of 
the Chester. To escape from slavery and become my own 
master, was now the ruling passion of my life. I would 
dream at night that I was free, and, on awaking, weep to 
find myself still a slave. 

"I would think of Victoria's domain ; 
In a moment I seemed to be there ; 
But the fear of being taken again 
Soon hurried me back to despair." 

Thoughts of the future, and my heart yearning for liberty, 
kept me always planning to escape. 

The long-looked-for opportunity came, and I embraced 
it. Leaving the steamer upon which my new master had 
me at work, I started for the north, travelling at night and 
lying by during the day. It was in the winter season, 
and I suffered much from cold and hunger. Supposing 
every person to be my enemy, I was afraid to appeal to 
any one, even for a little food, to keep body and soul 
together. As I pressed forward, my escape to Canada 
seemed certain, and this feeling gave me a light heart; for 

" Behind I left the whips and chains, 
Before me were sweet Freedom's plains." 



24 MEMOIR OP THE AUTHOR. 

While on my journey at night, and passing farms, I would 
seek a corn-crib, and supply myself with some of its con- 
tents. The next day, while buried in the forest, I would 
make a fire and roast my corn, and drink from the nearest 
stream. One night, while in search of corn, I came upon 
what I supposed to be a hill of potatoes, buried in the 
ground for want of a cellar. I obtained a sharp-pointed 
piece of wood, with which I dug away for more than an 
hour, and on gaining the hidden treasure, found it to be 
turnips. However, I did not dig for nothing. After sup- 
plying myself with about half a dozen of the turnips, I 
again resumed my journey. This uncooked food was indeed 
a great luxury, and gave strength to my fatigued limbs. 
The weather was very cold, — so cold, that it drove me 
one night into a barn, where I lay in the hay until morn- 
ing. A storm overtook me when about a week out. The 
rain fell in torrents, and froze as it came down. My clothes 
became stiff with ice. Here again I took shelter in a barn, 
and walked about to keep from freezing. Nothing but the 
fear of being arrested and returned to slavery prevented 
me, at this time, seeking shelter in some dwelling. 

After many days of weary travelling, and sick from ex- 
posure, I determined to seek shelter and aid ; and for this 
purpose, I placed myself behind some fallen trees near the 
main road, hoping to see some colored person, thinking I 
should be more safe under the care of one of my own 
color. Several farmers with their teams passed, but the 
appearance of each one frightened me out of the idea of 
asking for assistance. After lying on the ground for some 
time, with my sore, frost-bitten feet benumbed with cold, 
I saw an old, white-haired man, dressed in a suit of drab, 
with a broad-brimmed hat, walking along, leading a horse. 
The man was evidently walking for exercise. I came out 
from my hiding-place and told the stranger I must die 
unless I obtained some assistance. A moment's conversa- 
tion satisfied the old man that I was one of the oppressed, 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 25 

fleeing from the house of bondage. From the difficulty 
with which I walked, the shivering of my limbs, and the 
trembling of my voice, he became convinced that I had 
been among thieves, and he acted the part of the Good 
Samaritan. This was the first person I had ever seen of 
the religious sect called " Quakers," and his name was 
Wells Brown. I remained here about a fortnight, and 
being fitted out with clothes, shoes, and a little money, by 
these good people, I was again ready to resume my jour- 
ney. I entered their house with the single name that I 
was known by at the south, " William ; " I left it with the 
one I now bear. 

A few days more, and I arrived at Cleveland, Ohio, 
where I found employment during the remainder of the 
winter. Having no education, my first thoughts went in 
that direction. Obtaining a situation the following spring 
on a Lake Erie steamer, I found that I could be very ser- 
viceable to slaves who were escaping from the south to 
Canada. In one year alone I assisted sixty fugitives in 
crossing to the British queen's dominions. Many of these 
escapes were attended with much interest. On one occa- 
sion, a fugitive had been hid away in the house of a noted 
abolitionist in Cleveland for ten days, while his master was 
in town, and watching every steamboat and vessel that 
left the port.. Several officers were also on the watch, 
guarding the house of the abolitionist every night. The 
elave was a young and valuable man, of twenty-two years 
of age, and very black. The friends of the slave had 
almost despaired of getting him away from his hiding- 
place, when I was called in, and consulted as to the best 
course to be taken. I at once inquired if a painter could 
be found who would paint the fugitive white. In an hour, 
by my directions, the black man was as white, and with as 
rosy cheeks, as any of the Anglo-Saxon race, and disguised 
in the dress of a woman, with a thick veil over her face. 
As the steamer's bell was tolling for the passengers to 



26 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

come on board, a tall lady, dressed in deep mourning, and 
leaning on the arm of a gentleman of more than ordinary 
height, was seen entering the ladies' cabin of the steamer 
North America, who took her place with the other 
ladies. Soon the steamer left the wharf, and the slave- 
catcher and his officers, who had been watching the boat 
since her arrival, went away, satisfied that their slave had 
not escaped by the North America, and returned to 
guard the house of the abolitionist. After the boat had 
got out of port, and fairly on her way to Buffalo, I showed 
the tall lady to her state-room. The next morning, the 
fugitive, dressed in his plantation suit, bade farewell to his 
native land, crossed the Niagara River, and took up his 
abode in Canada. 

I remained on Lake Erie during the sailing season, and 
resided in Buffalo in the winter. In the autumn of 1843 I 
was invited by the officers of the Western New York Anti- 
Slavery Society to take an agency as a lecturer in behalf 
of my enslaved countrymen, which offer I accepted, and 
soon commenced my labors. Mobs were very frequent in 
those days. Being advertised to address the citizens of 
Aurora, Erie County, New York, on one occasion, I went 
to fulfil the appointment, and found the church surrounded 
by a howling set of men and boys, waiting to give me a 
warm reception. I went in, opened the meeting, and 
began my address. But they were resolved on having a 
good time, and the disturbance was so great that I had to 
stop. In the mean time, a bag of flour had been brought 
to the church, taken up into the belfry, directly over the 
entrance door, and a plan laid to throw the whole of it 
over me as I should pass out of the house, of all which my 
friends and I were unaware. After I had been driven 
from the pulpit by the unsalable eggs, which were thrown 
about very freely, I stopped in the body of the church to 
discuss a single point with one of the respectable rowdies, 
when the audience became silent, and I went on and spoke 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 27 

above an hour, all the while receiving the strictest atten- 
tion from every one present. At the conclusion the lights 
were put out, and preparation made to flour me over, 
although I had evidently changed the opinions of many of 
their company. As we were jamming along towards the 
door, one of the mob whispered to me, " They are going 
to throw a bag of flour on you ; so when you hear any one 
say, ' Let it slide,' you look out." Thus on my guard, and 
in possession of their signal, I determined to have a little 
fun at their expense. Therefore, when some of the best 
dressed and most respectable looking of their own com- 
pany, or those who had no sympathy with my mission, 
filled up the doorway, I cried out in a disguised voice, 
"Let it slide ;" and down came the contents of the bag, to 
the delight of my friends and the consternation of the 
enemy. A quarrel arose among the men at the door, and 
while they were settling their difficulty, my few friends and 
I quietly walked away unharmed. 

Invited by influential English abolitionists, and elected 
a delegate to the Peace Congress at Paris, I sailed for 
Liverj)ool in the Royal Mail Steamship Canada, in the 
month of July, 1849. The passage was pleasant, and we 
arrived out in less than ten days. 

I visited Dublin, where I partook of the hospitality of 
Richard D. Webb, Esq., and went from there to London ; 
thence to Paris, to discharge the duties of my mission on 
peace. 

In the French capital I met some of the most noted of 
the English philanthropists, who were also there in attend- 
ance on the Congress — Joseph Sturge, Richard Cobden, 
and men of that class. 

Returning to London after the adjournment of the peace 
gathering, I was invited to various parts of the United 
Kingdom, and remained abroad a little more than five 
years, during which time I wrote and jmblished three 
books, lectured in every town of any note in England, 



28 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, besides visiting the conti- 
nent four times. During my long sojourn in Great Britain, 
I witnessed many scenes of interest, and experienced 
much that was of an amusing character. It may not be 
out of place to give one of these here. On a cold winter's 
evening, I found myself seated before the fire, and alone, 
in the principal hotel in the ancient and beautiful town 
of Ludlow, and within a few minutes' walk of the femous 
old castle from which the place derives its name. A long 
ride by coach had so completely chilled me, that I re- 
mained by the fire to a later hour than I otherwise would 
have. "Did you ring, sir?" asked the waiter, as the clock 
struck twelve. " No," I replied ; " but you may give me 
a light, and I will retire." I was shown to my chamber, 
and was soon in bed. From the weight of the covering, 
I felt sure that the extra blanket which I had requested 
to be put on was there ; yet I was shivering with cold. 
As the sheets began to get warm, I discovered, to my as- 
tonishment, that they were damp — indeed wet. My first 
thought w T as to ring the bell for the servant, and have 
them changed ; but, after a moment's consideration, I re- 
solved to adopt a different course. I got out of bed, 
pulled the sheets off, rolled them up, raised the window, 
and threw them into the street. After disposing of the 
wet sheets, I returned to bed, and got in between the 
blankets, and lay there trembling with cold till Morpheus 
came to my relief. The next morning I said nothing 
about the sheets, feeling sure that the discovery of their 
loss would be made by the chambermaid in due time. 
Breakfast over, I visited the ruins of the old castle, and 
then returned to the hotel, to await the coach for Here- 
ford. As the hour drew near for me to leave, I called the 
waiter, and ordered my bill. " Yes, sir, in a moment," he 
replied, and left in haste. Ten or fifteen minutes passed 
away, and the servant once more came in, walked to the 



MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 29 

window, pulled tip the blinds, and then went out. I saw 
that something was afloat; and it occurred to me that 
they had discovered the loss of the sheets, at which I was 
pleased ; for the London newspapers were, at that time, dis- 
cussing the merits and the demerits of the hotel accommo- 
dations of the kingdom, and no letters found a more ready 
reception in their columns than one on that subject. I 
had, therefore, made up my mind to have the wet sheets 
put in the bill, pay for them, and send the bill to " The 
Times." 

The waiter soon returned again, and, in rather an 
agitated manner, said, " I beg your pardon, sir, but the 
landlady is in the hall, and would like to speak to you." 
Out I went, and found the finest specimen of an English 
landlady that I had seen for many a day. There she 
stood, nearly as thick as she was tall, with a red face 
garnished around with curls, that seemed to say, "I have 
just been oiled and brushed." A neat apron covered a 
black alpaca dress that swept the floor with modesty, 
and a bunch of keys hung at her side. O, that smile ! 
such a smile as none but an adept could put on. How- 
ever, I had studied human nature too successfully not to 
know that thunder and lightning were concealed under 
that smile, and I nerved myself for the occasion. " I am 
sorry to have to name it, sir," said she; "but the sheets 
are missing off your bed." " O, yes," I replied ; " I took 
them off last night." "Indeed!" exclaimed she; "and 
what did you do with them?" "I threw them out of 
the window," said I. "What! into the street?" "Yes; 
into the street," I said. " What did you do that for ? " 
" They were wet ; and I was afraid that if I left them in 
the room they would be put on at night, and give some- 
body else a cold." "Then, sir," said she, "you'll have 
to pay for them." " Make out your bill, madam," I re- 
plied, " and put the price of the wet sheets in it, and I 
3* 



30 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 

will send it to 'The Times,' and let the public knpw how 
much you charge for wet sheets." I turned upon my 
heel, and went back to the sitting room. A moment 
more, and my bill was brought in ; but nothing said about 
the sheets, and no charge made for them. The coach 
came to the door ; and as I passed through the hall leav- 
ing the house, the landlady met me, but with a diffei-ent 
smile. "I hope, sir, said she, that you will never mention 
the little incident about the sheets. I am very sorry for 
it. It would ruin my house if it were known." Think- 
ing that she was punished enough in the loss of her prop- 
erty, I promised not to mention the name of the house, 
if I ever did the incident. The following week I returned 
to the hotel, when I learned the fact from the waiter 
that they had suspected that I had stolen the sheets, and 
that a police officer was concealed behind the hall door, 
on the day that I was talking with the landlady. When 
I retired to bed that night, I found two jugs of hot water 
in the bed, and the sheets thoroughly dried and aired. 



THE BLACK MAI 

AND 

HIS ANTECEDENTS. 



Op the great family of man, the negro has, during 
the last half century, been more prominently before 
the world than any other race. He did not seek this 
notoriety. Isolated away in his own land, he would 
have remained there, had it not been for the avarice 
of other races, who sought him out as a victim of 
slavery. Two and a half centuries of the negro's en- 
slavement have created, in many minds, the opinion 
that he is intellectually inferior to the rest of man- 
kind ; and now that the blacks seem in a fair way to 
get their freedom in this country, it has been asserted, 
and from high authority in the government, that the 
natural inferiority of the negro makes it impossible 
for him to live on this continent with the white man, 
unless in a state of bondage. 

In his interview with a committee of the colored 
citizens of the District of Columbia, on the 14th of 
August last, the President of the United States inti- 
mated that the whites and the blacks could not live 
together in peace, on account of one race being su- 
perior intellectually to the other. Mr. Postmaster 

(3D 



32 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

General Blair, in his letter to the Union mass meeting 
held at the Cooper Institute, in New York, in March 
last, takes this ground. The Boston "Post" and 
" Courier" both take the same position. 

I admit that the condition of my race, whether con- 
sidered in a mental, moral, or intellectual point of 
view, at the present time cannot compare favorably 
with the Anglo-Saxon. But it does not become the 
whites to point the finger of scorn at the blacks, when 
they have so long been degrading them. The negro 
has not always been considered the inferior race. 
The time was when he stood at the head of science 
and literature. Let us see. 

It is the generally received opinion of the most em- 
inent historians and ethnologists, that the Ethiopians 
were really negroes, although in them the physical 
characteristics of the race were exhibited in a less 
marked manner than in those dwelling on the coast of 
Guinea, from whence the stock of American slaves 
has been chiefly derived. That, in the earliest periods 
of history, the Ethiopians had attained a high degree 
of civilization, there is every reason to believe ; and 
that to the learning and science derived from them we 
must ascribe those wonderful monuments which still 
exist to attest the power and skill of the ancient 
Egyptians. 

Among those who favor this opinion is our own dis- 
tinguished countryman, Alexander H. Everett, and 
upon this evidence I base my argument. Volney as- 
sumes it as a settled point that the Egyptians were 
black. Herodotus, who travelled extensively through 
that interesting land, set them down as black, with 
curled hair, and having the negro features. The 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 33 

sacred writers were aware of their complexion : hence 
the question, " Can the Ethiopian change his skin ? " 
The image of the negro is engraved upon the mon- 
uments of Egypt, not as a bondman, but as the master 
of art. The Sphinx, one of the wonders of the world, 
surviving the wreck of centuries, exhibits these same 
features at the present day. Minerva, the goddess of 
wisdom, was supposed to have been an African prin- 
cess. Atlas, whose shoulders sustained the globe, and 
even the great Jupiter Amnion himself, were located 
by the mycologists in Africa. Though there may not 
be much in these fables, they teach us, nevertheless, 
who were then considered the nobles of the human 
race. Tertullian and St. Augustin were Ethiopians. 
Terence, the most refined and accomplished scholar of 
his time, was of the same race. Hanno, the father of 
Hamilcar, and grandfather of Hannibal, was a negro. 
These are the antecedents of the enslaved blacks on 
this continent. 

From whence sprang the Anglo-Saxon ? For, mark 
you, it is he that denies the equality of the negro. 
" When the Britons first became known to the Tyrian 
mariners," says Macaulay, " they were little superior 
to the Sandwich Islanders." 

Hume says they were a rude and barbarous people, 
divided into numerous tribes, dressed in the skins of 
wild beasts. Druidism was their religion, and they 
were very superstitious. Such is the first account we 
have of the Britons. When the Romans invaded that 
country, they reduced the people to a state of vassal- 
age as degrading as that of slavery in the Southern 
States. Their king, Caractacus, was captured and sent 
a slave to Rome. Still later, Hengist and Horsa, the 



34 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

Saxon generals, presented another yoke, which the 
Britons were compelled to wear. But the last dregs 
of the bitter cup of humiliation were drunk when 
William of Normandy met Harold at Hastings, and, 
with a single blow, completely annihilated the nation- 
ality of the Britons. Thousands of the conquered 
people were then sent to the slave markets of Rome, 
where they were sold very cheap on account of their 
inaptitude to learn. 

This is not very flattering to the President's ances- 
tors, but it is just. Caesar, in writing home, said of 
the Britons, " They are the most ignorant people I 
ever conquered. They cannot be taught music." 
Cicero, writing to his friend Atticus, advised him not 
to buy slaves from England, " because," said he, " they 
cannot be taught to read, and are the ugliest and most 
stupid race I ever saw." I am sorry that Mr. Lincoln 
came from such a low origin ; but he is not to blame. 
I only find fault with him for making mouths at me. 

" You should not the ignorant negro despise ; 
Just such your sires appeared in Caesar's eyes." 

The Britons lost their nationality, became amalgama- 
ted with the Romans, Saxons, and Normans, and out of 
this conglomeration sprang the proud Anglo-Saxon of 
to-day. I once stood upon the walls of an English 
city, built by enslaved Britons when Julius Caesar was 
their master. The image of the ancestors of Pres- 
ident Lincoln and Montgomery Blair, as represented 
in Britain, was carved upon the monuments of Rome, 
where they may still be seen in their chains. Ancestry 
is something which the white American should not 
speak of, unless with his lips to the dust. 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 35 

"Nothing," says Macaulay, "in the early existence 
of Britain, indicated the greatness which she was des- 
tined to attain." Britain has risen, while prond 
Rome, once the mistress of the world, has fallen; but 
the image of the early Englishman in his chains, as 
carved twenty centuries ago, is still to be seen upon 
her broken monuments. So has Egypt fallen ; and 
her sable sons and daughters have been scattered into 
nearly every land where the white man has introduced 
slavery and disgraced the soil with his footprint. As 
I gazed upon the beautiful and classic obelisk of 
Luxor, removed from Thebes, where it had stood four 
thousand years, and transplanted to the Place de la 
Concorde, at Paris, and contemplated its hieroglyphic 
inscription of the noble daring of Sesostris, the Afri- 
can general, who drew kings at his chariot wheels, and 
left monumental inscriptions from Ethiopia to India, I 
felt proud of my antecedents, proud of the glorious 
past, which no amount of hate and prejudice could 
wipe from history's page, while I had to mourn over 
the fall and the degradation of my race. But I do 
not despair ; for the negro has that intellectual genius 
which God has planted in the mind of man, that dis- 
tinguishes him from the rest of creation, and which 
needs only cultivation to make it bring forth fruit. 
No nation has ever been found, which, by its own un- 
aided efforts, by some powerful inward impulse, has 
arisen from barbarism and degradation to civilization 
and respectability. There is nothing in race or blood, 
in color or features, that imparts susceptibility of im- 
provement to one race over another. The mind left 
to itself from infancy, without culture, remains a 
blank. Knowledge is not innate. Development 



36 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

makes the man. As the Greeks, and Romans, and 
Jews drew knowledge from the Egyptians three thou- 
sand years ago, and the Europeans received it from 
the Romans, so must the blacks of this land rise in 
the same way. As one man learns from another, so 
nation learns from nation. Civilization is handed 
from one people to another, its great fountain and 
source being God our Father. No one, in the days of 
Cicero and Tacitus, could have predicted that the bar- 
barism and savage wildness of the Germans would 
give place to the learning, refinement, and culture 
which that people now exhibit. Already the blacks 
on this continent, though kept down under the heel of 
the white man, are fast rising in the scale of intellec- 
tual development, and proving their equality with the 
brotherhood of man. 

In his address before the Colonization Society, at 
Washington, on the 18th of January, 1853, Hon. 
Edward Everett said, " When I lived in Cambridge, a 
few years ago, I used to attend, as one of the board 
of visitors, the examinations of a classical school, in 
which was a colored boy, the son of a slave in Missis- 
sippi, I think. He appeared to me to be of pure Afri- 
can blood. There were at the same time two youths 
from Georgia, and one of my own sons, attending the 
same school. I must say that this poor negro boy, 
Beverly Williams, was one of the best scholars at the 
school, and in the Latin language he was the best 
scholar in his class. There are others, I am told, 
which show still more conclusively the aptitude of the 
colored race for every kind of intellectual culture." 

Mr. Everett cited several other instances which 
had fallen under his notice, and utterly scouted the 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 37 

idea that there was any general inferiority of the 
African race. He said, " They have done as well as 
persons of European or Anglo-American origin would 
have done, after three thousand years of similar de- 
pression and hardship. The question has been asked, 
' Does not the negro labor under some incurable, nat- 
ural inferiority ? ' In this, for myself, I have no 
oelief" 

I think that this is ample refutation of the charge 
of the natural inferiority of the negro. President 
Lincoln, in the interview to which I have already re- 
ferred, said, " But for your race among us there would 
not be a war." This reminds me of an incident that 
occurred while travelling in the State of Ohio, in 
1844. Taking the stage coach at a small village, one 
of the passengers (a white man) objected to my being- 
allowed a seat inside, on account of my color. I 
persisted, however, in claiming the right which my 
ticket gave me, and got in. The objector at once took 
a seat on a trunk on the top of the coach. The wire 
netting round the top of the stage not being strong, 
the white passenger, trunks and all, slid off as we were 
going down a steep hill. The top passenger's shoulder 
was dislocated, and in his pain he cried out, " If you 
had not been black, I should not have left my seat 
inside." 

The " New York Herald," the " Boston Post," the 
" Boston Courier," and the " New York Journal of 
Commerce," take the lead in misrepresenting the 
effect which emancipation in the West Indies had 
upon the welfare of those islands. It is asserted that 
general ruin followed the black man's liberation. As 
to the British colonies, the fact is well established 
4 



38 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

that slavery had impoverished the soil, demoralized 
the people, bond and free, brought the planters to a 
state of bankruptcy, and all the islands to ruin, long 
before Parliament had passed the act of emancipation. 
All the colonies, including Jamaica, had petitioned 
the home government for assistance, ten years prior to 
the liberation of their slaves. It is a noticeable fact, 
that the free blacks were the least embarrassed, in a 
pecuniary point of view, and that they appeared in 
more comfortable circumstances than the whites. 
There was a large proportion of free blacks in each of 
the colonies, Jamaica alone having fifty-five thousand 
before the day of emancipation. A large majority of 
the West India estates were owned by persons residing 
in Europe, and who had never seen the colonies. 
These plantations were carried on by agents, overseers, 
and clerks, whose mismanagement, together with the 
blighting influence which chattel slavery takes with it 
wherever it goes, brought the islands under impending 
ruin, and many of the estates were mortgaged in Eu- 
rope for more than their value. One man alone, Neil 
Malcomb, of London, had forty plantations to fall 
upon his hands for money advanced on them before 
the abolition of slavery. These European proprietors, 
despairing of getting any returns from the West In- 
dies, gladly pocketed their share of the twenty million 
pounds sterling, which the home government gave 
them, and abandoned their estates to their ruin. 
Other proprietors residing in the colonies formed com- 
binations to make the emancipated people labor for 
scarcely enough to purchase food for them. If found 
idle, the tread-wheel, the chain-gang, the dungeon, 
with black bread, and water from the moat, and other 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 89 

modes of legalized torture, were inflicted upon the 
negroes. Through the determined and combined 
efforts of the land owners, the condition of the freed 
people was as bad, if not worse, for the first three 
years after their liberation, than it was before. Never 
was an experiment more severely tested than that of 
emancipation in the West Indies. 

Nevertheless, the principles of freedom triumphed ; 
not a drop of blood was shed by the enfranchised 
blacks ; the colonies have arisen from the blight which 
they labored under in the time of slavery ; the land 
has increased in value ; and, above all, that which is 
more valuable than cotton, sugar, or rice — the moral 
and intellectual condition of both blacks and whites 
is in a better state now than ever before. Sir William 
Colebrook, governor of Antigua, said, six years after 
the islands were freed, " At the lowest computation, 
the land, without a single slave upon it, is fully as 
valuable now as it was, including all the slaves, before 
emancipation." In a report made to the British Par- 
liament, in 1859, it was stated that three fifths of the 
cultivated land of Jamaica was the bona fide property 
of the blacks. The land is in a better state of culti- 
vation now than it was while slavery existed, and both 
imports and exports show a great increase. Every 
tiling demonstrates that emancipation in the West 
India islands has resulted in the most satisfactory 
manner, and fulfilled the expectation of the friends of 
freedom throughout the world. 

Rev. Mr. Underbill, secretary of the English Bap- 
tist Missionary Society, who has visited Jamaica, and 
carefully studied its condition, said, in a recent speech 
in London, that the late slaves in that island had built 



40 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

some two hundred and twenty chapels. The churches 
that worship in them number fifty-three thousand 
communicants, amounting to one eighth of the total 
population. The average attendance, in other than 
the state churches, is ninety-one thousand — a fourth 
of the population. One third of the children — 
twenty-two thousand — are in the schools. The 
blacks voluntarily contribute twenty-two thousand 
pounds (one hundred and ten thousand dollars) 
annually for religious purposes. Their landed prop- 
erty exceeds five million dollars. Valuing their cot- 
tages at only fifty dollars each, these amount to three 
million dollars. They have nearly three hundred 
thousand dollars deposited in the savings banks. 
The sum total of their property is much above eleven 
million dollars. All this has been accumulated since 
their emancipation. 

Thus it is seen that all parties have been benefited 
by the abolition of negro slavery in the British pos- 
sessions. Now we turn to our own land. Among the 
many obstacles which have been brought to bear 
against emancipation, one of the most formidable has 
been the series of objections urged against it upon 
what has been supposed to be the slave's want of ap- 
preciation of liberty, and his ability to provide for 
himself in a state of freedom ; and now that slavery 
seems to be near its end, these objections are multi- 
plying, and the cry is heard all over the land, " What 
shall be done with the slave if freed ? " 

It has been clearly demonstrated, I think, that the 
enslaved of the south are as capable of self-support as 
any other class of people in the country. It is well 
known that, throughout the entire south, a large, class 



THE BLACK MAX AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 41 

of slaves have been for years accustomed to lure their 
time from their owners. Many of these have paid 
very high prices for the privilege. Some able mechan- 
ics have been known to pay as high as six hundred 
dollars per annum, besides providing themselves with 
food and clothing ; and this class of slaves, by their 
industry, have taken care of themselves so well, and 
their appearance has been so respectable, that many of 
the states have passed laws prohibiting masters from 
letting their slaves out to themselves, because, as it 
was said, it made the other slaves dissatisfied to see so 
many of their fellows well provided, and accumulat- 
ing something for themselves in the way of pocket 
money. 

The Rev. Dr. Nehemiah Adams, whose antecedents 
have not been such as to lead to the suspicion that he 
favors the free colored men, or the idea of giving to 
the slaves their liberty, in his " South-Side View," un- 
consciously and unintentionally gives a very valuable 
statement upon this particular point. Dr. Adams 
says, " A slave woman having had three hundred dol- 
lars stolen from her by a white man, her master was 
questioned in court as to the probability of her having 
had so much money. The master said that he not un- 
frequently had borrowed fifty and a hundred dollars 
from her himself, and added that she was always very 
strict as to his promised time of payment." There 
was a slave woman who had not only kept every agree- 
ment with her master — paying him every cent she had 
promised — but had accumulated three hundred dol- 
lars towards purchasing her liberty ; and it was stolen 
from her, not by a black man, but, as Dr. Adams says, 

by a white man. 

4 * 



42 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

But one of the clearest demonstrations of the ability 
of the slave to provide for himself in a state of free- 
dom is to be found in the prosperous condition of the 
large free colored population of the Southern States. 
Maryland has eighty thousand, Virginia seventy thou- 
sand, and the other slave states have a large number. 
These free people have all been slaves, or they are the 
descendants of those who were once slaves ; what they 
have gained has been acquired in spite of the public 
opinion and laws of the south, in spite of prejudice, 
and every thing. They have acquired a large amount 
of property ; and it is this industry, this sobriety, this 
intelligence, and this wealth of the free colored people 
of the south, that has created so much prejudice on 
the part of slaveholders against them. They have felt 
that the very presence of a colored man, looking so 
genteelly and in such a prosperous condition, made 
the slaves unhappy and discontented. In the South- 
ern Rights Convention which assembled at Baltimore, 
June 8, 1860, a resolution was adopted, calling on 
the legislature to pass a law driving the free colored 
people out of the state. Nearly every speaker took 
the ground that the free colored people must be driven 
out to make the slave's obedience more secure. Judge 
Mason, in his speech, said, " It is the thrifty and well- 
to-do free negroes, that are seen by our slaves, that 
make them dissatisfied." A similar appeal was made 
to the legislature of Tennessee. Judge Catron, of the 
Supreme Court of the United States, in a long and, 
able letter to the Nashville " Union," opposed the driv- 
ing out of the colored people. He said they were 
among the best mechanics, the best artisans, and the 
most industiious laborers in the state, and that to 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 43 

drive them out would be an injury to the state itself. 
This is certainly good evidence in their behalf. 

The New Orleans " True Delta" opposed the passage 
of a similar law by the State of Louisiana. Among 
other things it said, " There are a large free colored 
population here, correct in their general deportment, 
honorable in their intercourse with society, and free 
from reproach so far as the laws are concerned, not 
surpassed in the inoffensiveness of their lives by any 
equal number of persons in any place, north or 
south." 

A movement was made in the legislature of South 
Carolina to expel the free blacks from that state, and 
a committee was appointed to investigate the matter. 
In their report the committee said, " We find that the 
free blacks of this state are among our most industrious 
people ; in this city (Charleston) we find that they 
own over two and a half millions of dollars worth of 
property ; that they pay two thousand seven hundred 
dollars tax to the city." 

Dr. Nehemiah Adams, whom I have already quoted, 
also testifies to the good character of the free colored 
people ; but he does it unintentionally ; it was not a 
part of the programme ; how it slipped in I cannot tell. 
Here it is, however, from page 41 of his " South-Side 
View : " — 

" A prosecuting officer, who had six or eight coun- 
ties in his district, told me that, during eight years 
service, he had ma'de out about two thousand bills 
of indictment, of which not more than twelve were 
against colored persons." 

Hatred of the free colored people, and abuse of them, 
have always been popular with the pro-slavery people 



44 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

of this country ; yet, an American senator from ono 
of the Western States — a man who never lost an op- 
portunity to vilify and traduce the colored man, and 
who, in his last canvass for a seat in the United States 
Senate, argued that the slaves were better off in sla- 
very than they would be if set free, and declared that 
the blacks were unable to take care of themselves 
while enjoying liberty — died, a short time since, 
twelve thousand dollars in debt to a black man, who 
was the descendant of a slave. 

There is a Latin phrase — De mortuis nil nisi bonum. 
It is not saying any thing against the reputation of 
Hon. Stephen A. Douglas to tell the fact that he had 
borrowed money from a negro. I only find fault with 
him that he should traduce the class that befriended 
him in the time of need. James Gordon Bennett, of 
the New York Herald, in a time of great pecuniary 
distress, soon after establishing his paper, borrowed 
three hundred dollars of a black man ; and now he is 
one of our most relentless enemies. Thus it is that 
those who fattened upon us often turn round and tra- 
duce us. Reputation is, indeed, dear to every nation 
and race ; but to us, the colored people of this country, 
who have so many obstacles to surmount, it is doubly 
dear : — 

" "Who steals my purse steals trash ; 
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ; 
But he who filches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed." 

You know we were told by the slaveholders, just be- 
fore the breaking out of the rebellion, that if we got 
into any difficulty with the south, their slaves would 






THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 45 

take up arms and fight to a man for them Mr. 
Toombs, I believe, threatened that he would arm his 
slaves, and other men in Congress from the slave states 
made the same threat. They were going to arm the 
slaves and turn them against the north. They said 
they could be trusted ; and many people here at the 
north really believed that the slave did not want his 
liberty, would not have it if he could, and that the 
slave population was a very dangerous element against 
the north ; but at once, on the approach of our sol- 
diers, the slaves are seen, with their bundles and 
baskets, and hats and coats, and without bundles or 
baskets, and without hats or coats, rushing to our 
lines ; demonstrating what we have so often said, that 
all the slave was waiting for was the opportunity to get 
his liberty. Why should you not have believed this ? 
Why should you have supposed for a moment, that, 
because a man's color differs a little from yours, he is 
better contented to remain a slave than you would be, 
or that he has no inclination, no wish, to escape from 
the thraldom that holds him so tight ? What is it that 
does not wish to be free ? 

" Go, let a cage with grates of gold, 
And pearly roof, the eagle hold ; 
Let dainty viands be its fare, 
And give the captive tenderest care ; 
But say, in luxury's limits pent, 
Find you the king of birds content ? 
No ; oft he'll sound the startling shriek, 
And dash the cage with angry beak : 
Precarious freedom's far more dear 
Than all the prison's pampering cheer." 

As with the eagle, so with man. He loves to look 
upon the bright day and the stormy night; to gaze 



46 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

upon the broad, free ocean, its eternal surging tides, its 
mountain billows, and its foam-crested waves ; to tread 
the steep mountain side ; to sail upon the placid river ; 
to wander along the gurgling stream ; to trace the 
sunny slope, the beautiful landscape, the majestic forest, 
the flowery meadow ; to listen to the howling of the 
winds and the music of the birds. These are the as- 
pirations of man, without regard to country, clime, 
or color. 

" What shall we do with the slave of the south ? 
Expatriate him," say the haters of the negro. Ex- 
patriate him for what ? He has cleared up the swamps 
of the south, and has put the soil under cultivation ; 
he has built up her towns, and cities, and villages ; he 
has enriched the north and Europe with his cotton, 
and sugar, and rice ; and for this you would drive him 
out of the country ! " What shall be done with the 
slaves if they are freed ? " You had better ask, 
" What shall we do with the slaveholders if the slaves 
are freed ?" The slave has shown himself better fitted 
to take care of himself than the slaveholder. He is 
the bone and sinew of the south ; he is the producer, 
while the master is nothing but a consumer, and a very 
poor consumer at that. The slave is the producer, 
and he alone can be relied upon. He has the sinew, 
the determination, and the will ; and if you will take 
the free colored people of the south as the criterion, 
take their past history as a sample of what the colored 
people are capable of doing, every one must be satis- 
fied that the slaves can take care of themselves. 
Some say, " Let them alone ; they are well cared for, 
and that is enough.". 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 47 

"O, tell us not they're clothed and fed — 
'Tis insult, stuff, and a' that ; 
With freedom gone, all joy is fled, 
For Heaven's best gift is a' that." 

But it is said, " The two races cannot live together 
in a state of freedom." Why, that is the cry that 
rung all over England thirty years ago : " If you lib- 
erate the slaves of the West Indies, they can't live 
with the whites in a state of freedom." Thirty years 
have shown the contrary. The blacks and the whites 
live together in Jamaica ; they are all prosperous, and 
the island in a better condition than it ever was before 
the act of emancipation was passed. 

But they tell us, " If the slaves are emancipated, we 
won't receive them upon an equality." Why, every 
man must make equality for himself. No society, no 
government, can make this equality. I do not expect 
the slave of the south to jump into equality ; all I 
claim for him is, that he may be allowed to jump into 
liberty, and let him make equality for himself. I have 
some white neighbors around me in Cambridge ; they 
are not very intellectual ; they don't associate with my 
family ; but whenever they shall improve themselves, 
and bring themselves up by their own intellectual and 
moral worth, I shall not object to their coming into my 
society — all things being equal. 

Now, this talk about not letting a man come to this 
place or that, and that we won't do this for him, or 
won't do that for him, is all idle. The anti-slavery 
agitators have never demanded that you shall take the 
colored man, any more than that you shall take the 
uncultivated and uncouth white man, and place him 
in a certain position in society. All I demand for the 



48 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

black man is, that the white people shall take their 
heels off his neck, and let him have a chance to rise 
by his own efforts. 

The idea of colonizing the slaves in some other 
country, outside of the United States, seems the height 
of folly. Whatever may be the mineral wealth of a 
country, or the producing capabilities of the soil, nei- 
ther can be made available without the laborer. Four 
millions of strong hands cannot be spared from the 
Southern States. All time has shown that the negro 
is the best laborer in the tropics. 

The slaves once emancipated and left on the lands, 
four millions of new consumers will spring into exist- 
ence. Heretofore, the bondmen have consumed noth- 
ing scarcely from the north. The cost of keeping a* 
slave was only about nineteen dollars per annum, in- 
cluding food, clothing, and doctors' bills. Negro cloth, 
negro shoes, and negro whips were all that were sent 
south by northern manufacturers. Let slavery be 
abolished, and stores will be opened and a new trade 
take place with the blacks south. Northern manufac- 
turers will have to run on extra time till this new de- 
mand will have been supplied. The slave owner, 
having no longer an inducement to be idle, will go to 
work, and will not have time to concoct treason against 
the stars and stripes. I cannot close this appeal with- 
out a word about the free blacks in the non-slavehold- 
ing states. 

The majority of the colored people in the Northern 
States descended from slaves : many of them were 
slaves themselves. In education, in morals, and in 
the development of mechanical genius, the free blacks 
of the Northern States will compare favorably with any 



THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 49 

laboring class in the world. And considering the fact 
that we have been shut out, by a cruel prejudice, from 
nearly all the mechanical branches, and all the profes- 
sions, it is marvellous that we have attained the po- 
sition we now occupy. Notwithstanding these bars, 
our young men have learned trades, become artists, 
gone into the professions, although bitter prejudice 
may prevent their having a great deal of practice. 
When it is considered that they have mostly come out 
of bondage, and that their calling has been the lowest 
kind in every community, it is still more strange that 
the colored people have amassed so much wealth in 
every state in the Union. If this is not an exhibition 
of capacity, I don't understand the meaning of the 
term. And if true patriotism and devotion to the 
cause of freedom be tests of loyalty, and should estab- 
lish one's claim to all the privileges that the govern- 
ment can confer, then surely the black man can 
demand his rights with a good grace. From the fall 
of Attucks, the first martyr of the American revolu- 
tion in 1770, down to the present day, the colored 
people have shown themselves worthy of any confi- 
dence that the nation can place in its citizens in the 
time that tries men's souls. At the battle of Bunker 
Hill, on the heights of Groton, at the ever-memorable 
battle of Red Bank, the sable sons of our country stood 
side by side with their white brethren. On Lakes Erie 
and Champlain, on the Hudson, and down in the val- 
ley of the Mississippi, they established their valor and 
their invincibility. Whenever the rights of the nation 
have been assailed, the negro has always responded to 
his country's call, at once, and with every pulsation 
of his heart beating for freedom. And no class of 
5 



50 THE BLACK MAN AND HIS ANTECEDENTS. 

Americans have manifested more solicitude for the 
success of the federal arms in the present struggle 
with rebellion, than the colored people. At the north, 
they were among the earliest to respond to the presi- 
dent's first proclamation, calling for troops. At the 
south, they have ever shown a preference for the stars 
and stripes. In his official despatch to Minister Adams, 
Mr. Secretary Seward said, — 

" Every where the American general receives his 
most useful and reliable information from the negro, 
ivho hails his coming- as the harbinger of freedom" 



THE BLACK MAN, 

HIS GENIUS AND HIS ACHIEVEMENTS, 



BENJAMIN BANNEKER. 

The services rendered to science, to liberty, and to 
the intellectual character of the negro by Banneker, 
are too great for us to allow his name to sleep and his 
genius and merits to remain hidden from the world. 
Benjamin Banneker was born in the State of Mary- 
land, in the year 1732, of pure African parentage ; their 
blood never having been corrupted by the introduction 
of a drop of Anglo-Saxon. His father was a slave, 
and of course could do nothing towards the educa- 
tion of the child. The mother, however, being free, 
succeeded in purchasing the freedom of her husband, 
and they, with their son, settled on a few acres of land, 
where Benjamin remained during the lifetime of his 
parents. His entire schooling was gained from an ob- 
scure country school, established for the education of 
the children of free negroes ; and these advantages 
were poor, for the boy appears to have finished study- 
ing before he arrived at his fifteenth year. Although 
out of school, Banneker was still a student, and read 
with great care and attention such books as he could 
get. Mr. George Ellicott, a gentleman of fortune and 

(51) 



52 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

considerable literary taste, and who resided near to 
Benjamin, became interested in him, and lent him 
books from his large library. Among these books 
were Mayer's Tables, Fergusson's Astronomy, and 
Leadbeater's Lunar Tables. A few old and imperfect 
astronomical instruments also found their way into the 
boy's hands, all of which he used with great benefit to 
his own mind. 

Banneker took delight in the study of the languages, 
and soon mastered the Latin, Greek, and German. 
He was also proficient in the French. The classics 
were not neglected by him, and the general literary 
knowledge which he possessed caused Mr. Ellicott to 
regard him as the most learned man in the town, and 
he never failed to introduce Banneker to his most dis- 
tinguished guests. About this time Benjamin turned 
his attention particularly to astronomy, and determined 
on making calculations for an almanac, and completed 
a set for the whole year. Encouraged by this attempt, 
he entered upon calculations for subsequent years, 
which, as well as the former, he began and finished 
without the least assistance from any person or books 
than those already mentioned ; so that whatever merit 
is attached to his performance is exclusively his own. 
He published an almanac in Philadelphia for the years 
1792, '3, '4, and '5, which contained his calculations, 
exhibiting the different aspects of the planets, a table 
of the motions of the sun and moon, their risings and 
settings, and the courses of the bodies of the planetary 
system. By this time Banneker's acquirements had 
become generally known, and the best scholars in 
the country opened correspondence with him. God- 
dard & Angell, the well-known Baltimore publishers, 



BENJAMIN BANNEKER. 53 

engaged his pen for their establishment, and became 
the publishers of his almanacs. A copy of his first 
production was sent to Thomas Jefferson, together with 
a letter intended to interest the great statesman in the 
cause of negro emancipation and the elevation of the 
race, in which he says, — 

" It is a truth too well attested to need a proof here, 
that we are a race of beings who have long labored 
under the abuse and censure of the world ; that we 
have long been looked upon with an eye of contempt, 
and considered rather as brutish than human, and 
scarcely capable of mental endowments. I hope I 
may safely admit, in consequence of the report which 
has reached me, that you are a man far less inflexible 
in sentiments of this nature than many others ; that 
you are measurably friendly and well disposed towards 
us, and that you are willing to lend your aid and as- - 
sistance for our relief from those many distresses and 
numerous calamities to which we are reduced. If this 
is founded in truth, I apprehend you will embrace 
every opportunity to eradicate that train of absurd and 
false ideas and opinions which so generally prevail 
with respect to us, and that your sentiments are con- 
current with mine, which are, that one universal 
Father hath given being to us all ; that he hath not 
only made us all of one flesh, but that he hath also, 
without partiality, afforded us all the same sensations, 
and endowed us all with the same faculties ; and that, 
however variable we may be in society or religion, 
however diversified in situation or in color, we are all 
of the same family, and stand in the same relation to 
him. If these are sentiments of which you are fully 
persuaded, you cannot but acknowledge that it is the 
5* 



54 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

indispensable duty of those who maintain the rights oi 
human nature, and who profess* the obligations of 
Christianity, to extend their power and influence to 
the relief of every part of the human race from what- 
ever burden or oppression they may unjustly labor 
under ; and this, I apprehend, a full conviction of the 
truth and obligation of these principles should lead all 
to. I have long been convinced that if your love for 
yourselves, and for those inestimable laws which pre- 
served to you the rights of human nature, was founded 
on sincerity, you could not but be solicitous that every 
individual, of whatever rank or distinction, might with 
you equally enjoy the blessings thereof ; neither could 
you rest satisfied short of the most active effusion of 
your exertions, in order to effect their promotion from 
any state of degradation to which the unjustifiable 
cruelty and barbarism of men may have reduced 
them. 

" I freely and cheerfully acknowldge that I am one 
of the African race, and in that color which is natural 
to them, of the deepest dye ; and it is under a sense 
of the most profound gratitude to the Supreme Ruler 
of the universe, that I now confess to you that I am 
not under that state of tyrannical thraldom and inhu- 
man captivity to which too many of my brethren are 
doomed ; but that I have abundantly tasted of the fru- 
ition of those blessings which proceed from that free 
and unequalled liberty with which you are favored, 
and which I hope you will willingly allow you have 
mercifully received from the immediate hand of that 
Being from whom proceedeth every good and per- 
fect gift. 

" Your knowledge of the situation of my brethren 



BENJAMIN BANNEKER. 55 

is too extensive to need a recital here ; neither shall 1 
presume to prescribe methods by which they may be 
relieved, otherwise than by recommending to you and 
to others to wean yourselves from those narrow preju- 
dices which you have imbibed with respect to them, 
and, as Job proposed to his friends, ' put your soul in 
their souls' stead.' Thus shall your hearts be enlarged 
with kindness and benevolence towards them ; and 
thus shall you need neither the direction of myself or 
others in what manner to proceed herein. . . . 
The calculation for this almanac is the production of 
my arduous study in my advanced stage of life ; for 
having long had unbounded desires to become ac- 
quainted with the secrets of nature, I have had to 
gratify my curiosity herein through my own assiduous 
application to astronomical study, in which I need not 
recount to you the many difficulties and disadvantages 
which I have had to encounter." 

Mr. Jefferson at once replied as follows : — 

"Philadelphia, August 30, 1791. 

" Sir : I thank you sincerely for your letter and the 
almanac it contained. Nobody wishes more than I do 
to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given 
to our black brethren talents equal to those of the other 
colors of men, and that the appearance of the want 
of them is owing merely to the degraded condition 
of their existence, both in Africa and America. I can 
add with truth, that nobody wishes more ardently to 
see a good system commenced for raising their con- 
dition, both of their body and their mind, to what it 
ought to be, as far as the imbecility of their present 
existence, and other circumstances, which cannot be 



56 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

neglected, will admit. I have taken the liberty of 
sending your almanac to Monsieur de Condorcet, sec- 
retary of the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and a 
member of the Philanthropic Society, because I con- 
sider it as a document to which your whole color have 
a right for their justification against the doubts which 
have been entertained of them. 

" I am, with great esteem, 

" Dear sir, your obedient, &c, 

" Thomas Jefferson. 
" To Mr. B. Banneker." 

The letter from Banneker, together with the alma- 
nac, created in the heart of Mr. Jefferson a fresh feel- 
ing of enthusiasm in behalf of freedom, and especially 
for the negro, which ceased only with his life. The 
American statesman wrote to Brissot, the celebrated 
French writer, in which he made enthusiastic mention 
of the " Negro Philosopher." At the formation of the 
" Society of the Friends of the Blacks," at Paris, by 
Lafayette, Brissot, Barnave, Condorcet, and Gregoire, 
the name of Banneker was again and again referred 
to to prove the equality of the races. Indeed, the 
genius of the " Negro Philosopher" did much towards 
giving liberty to the people of St. Domingo. In the 
British House of Commons, Pitt, Wilberforce, and 
Buxton often alluded to Banneker by name, as a man 
fit to fill any position in society. At the setting off of 
the District of Columbia for the capital of the federal 
government, Banneker was invited by the Maryland 
commissioners, and took an honorable part in the set- 
tlement of the territory. But throughout all his inter- 
course with men of influence, he never lost sight of 



BENJAMIN BANNEKER. 57 

the condition of his race, and ever urged the emanci- 
pation and elevation of the slave. He well knew that 
every thing that was founded upon the admitted infe- 
riority of natural right in the African was calculated to 
degrade him and bring him nearer to the foot of the 
oppressor, and he therefore never failed to allude to 
the equality of the races when with those whites whom 
he could influence. He always urged self-elevation 
upon the colored people whom he met. He felt that 
to deprive the black man of the inspiration of am- 
bition, of hope, of health, of standing among his breth- 
ren of the earth, was to take from him all incentives 
to mental improvement. What husbandman incurs 
the toil of seed time and culture, except with a view 
to the subsequent enjoyment of a golden harvest? 
Banneker was endowed by nature with all those excel- 
lent qualifications which are necessary previous to the 
accomplishment of a great man. His memory was 
large and tenacious, yet, by a curious felicity, chiefly 
susceptible of the finest impressions it received from 
the best authors he read, which he always preserved in 
their primitive strength and amiable order. He had 
a quickness of apprehension and a vivacity of under- 
standing which easily took in and surmounted the 
most subtile and knotty parts of mathematics and 
metaphysics. He possessed in a large degree that 
genius which constitutes a man of letters ; that quality 
without which judgment is cold and knowledge is 
inert ; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, 
and animates. 

He knew every branch of history, both natural and 
civil ; he had read all the original historians of Eng- 
land, France, and Germany, and was a great antiqua- 



58 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

rian. Criticism, metaphysics, morals, politics, vojages 
and travels, were all studied and well digested by him. 
With such a fund of knowledge his conversation was 
equally interesting, instructive, and entertaining. Ban- 
neker was so favorably appreciated by the first fami- 
lies in Virginia, that in 1803 'he was invited by Mr. 
Jefferson, then President of the United States, to visit 
him at Monticello, where the statesman had gone for 
recreation. But he was too infirm to undertake the 
journey. He died the following year, aged seventy- 
two. Like the golden sun that has sunk beneath the 
western horizon, but still throws upon the world, which 
he sustained and enlightened in his career, the reflect- 
ed beams of his departed genius, his name can only 
perish with his language. 

Banneker believed in the divinity of reason, and in 
the omnipotence of the human understanding with 
Liberty for its handmaid. The intellect impregnated 
by science and multiplied by time, it appeared to him, 
must triumph necessarily over all the resistance of 
matter. He had faith in liberty, truth, and virtue. 
His remains still rest in the slave state where he lived 
and died, with no stone to mark the spot or tell that it 
is the grave of Benjamin Banneker. 

He labored incessantly, lived irreproachably, and 
died in the literary harness, universally esteemed and 
regretted. 



NAT TURNER. 59 



NAT TURNER. 

Biography is individual history, as distinguished 
from that of communities, of nations, and of worlds. 
Eulogy is that deserved applause which springs from 
the virtues and attaches itself to the characters of 
men. This is not intended either as a biography or a 
eulogy, but simply a sketch of one whose history has 
hitherto been neglected, and to the memory of whom 
the American people are not prepared to do justice. 

On one of the oldest and largest plantations in 
in Southampton county, Virginia, owned by Benjamin 
Turner, Esq., Nat was born a slave, on the 2d of Oc- 
tober, 1800. His parents were of unmixed African 
descent. Surrounded as he was by the superstition 
of the slave quarters, and being taught by his mother 
that he was born for a prophet, a preacher, and a de- 
liverer of his race, it was not strange that the child 
should have imbibed the principles which were after- 
wards developed in his career. Early impressed with 
the belief that he had seen visions, and received 
communications direct from God, he, like Napoleon, 
regarded himself as a being of destiny. In his child- 
hood Nat was of an amiable disposition ; but circum- 
stances in which he was placed as a slave, brought out 
incidents that created a change in his disposition, and 
turned his kind and docile feeling into the most in- 
tense hatred to the white race. 

Being absent one night from his master's plantation 
without a pass, he was caught by Whitlock and Mull, 
the two district patrolers, and severely flogged. This 



60 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

act of cruelty inflamed the young slave, and he re- 
solved upon having revenge. Getting two of the boys 
of a neighboring plantation to join him, Nat obtained 
a long rope, went out at night on the road through 
which the officers had their beat, and stationing his 
companions, one on each side of the road, he stretched 
the rope across, fastening each end to a tree, and draw- 
ing it tight. His rope thus fixed, and his accomplices 
instructed how to act their part, Nat started off up 
the road. The night being dark, and the rope only six 
or eight inches from the ground, the slave felt sure 
that he would give his enemies a " high fall." 

Nat hearing them, he called out in a disguised voice, 
" Is dat you, Jim ? " To this Whitlock replied, " Yes, 
dis is me." Waiting until the white men were near 
him, Nat started off upon a run, followed by the officers. 
The boy had placed a sheet of white paper in the road, 
so that he might know at what point to jump the rope, 
so as not to be caught in his own trap. Arriving at 
the signal he sprung over the rope, and went down the 
road like an antelope. But not so with the white men, 
for both were caught by the legs and thrown so hard 
upon the ground that Mull had his shoulder put out 
of joint, and his face terribly lacerated by the fall ; 
while Whitlock's left wrist was broken, and his head 
bruised in a shocking manner. Nat hastened home, 
while his companions did the same, not forgetting to 
take with them the clothes line which had been so 
serviceable in the conflict. The patrolers were left on 
the field of battle, crying, swearing, and calling for 
help. 

Snow seldom falls as far south as the southern part 
of Virginia ; but when it does, the boys usually have a 



NAT TURNER. 



61 



good time snow-balling, and on such occasions the 
slaves, old and young, women and men, are generally 
pelted without mercy, and with no right to retaliate. 
It was only a few months after his affair with the pa- 
trolers, that Nat was attacked by a gang of boys, who 
chased him some distance, snow-balling with all their 
power. The slave boy knew the lads, and determined 
upon revenge. Waiting till night, he filled his pockets 
with rocks, and went into the street. Very soon the 
same gang of boys were at his heels, and pelting him. 
Concealing his face so as not to be known, 'Nat dis- 
charged his rocks in every direction, until his enemies 
had all taken to their heels. 

The ill treatment he experienced at the hands of 
the whites, and the visions he claimed to have seen, 
caused Nat to avoid, as far as he could, all intercourse 
with his fellow-slaves, and threw around him a gloom 
and melancholy that disappeared only with his life. 

Both the young slave and his friends averred that 
a full knowledge of the alphabet came to him in a 
single night. Impressed with the belief that his mis- 
sion was a religious one, and this impression strength- 
ened by the advice of his grandmother, a pious but 
ignorant woman, Nat commenced preaching when 
about twenty-five of age, but never went beyond his 
own master's locality. In stature he was under the 
middle size, long armed, round-shouldered, and strongly 
marked with the African features. A gloomy fire 
burned in his looks, and he had a melancholy expres- 
sion of countenance. He never tasted a drop of ardent 
spirits in his life, and was never known to smile. In 
the year 1828 new visions appeared to Nat, and he 
claimed to have direct communication with God. 
6 



62 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Unlike most of those born under the influence of 
slavery, he had no faith in conjuring, fortune-telling, 
or dreams, and always spoke with contempt of such 
things. Being hired out to cruel masters, he ran away, 
and remained in the woods thirty days, and could have 
easily escaped to the free states, as did his father some 
years before ; but he received, as he says in his con- 
fession a communication from the spirit, which said, 
" Return to your earthly master, for he who knoweth 
his Master's will, and doeth it not, shall be beaten with 
many stripes." It was not the will of his earthly, but 
his heavenly Master that he felt bound to do, and 
therefore Nat returned. His fellow-slaves were greatly 
incensed at him for coming back, for they knew well 
his ability to reach Canada, or some other land of free- 
dom, if he was so inclined. He says further, " About 
this time I had a vision, and saw white spirits and 
black spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was 
darkened, the thunder rolled in the heavens, and blood 
flowed in streams ; and I heard a voice saying, ' Such 
is your luck ; such are you called on to see ; and let it 
come, rough or smooth, you must surely bear it.'" 
Some time after this, Nat had, as he says, another 
vision, in which the spirit appeared and said, " The 
serpent is loosened, and Christ has laid down the yoke 
he has borne for the sins of men, and you must take 
it up, and fight against the serpent, for the time is fast 
approaching when the first shall be last, and the last 
shall be first." There is no doubt but that this last 
sentence filled Nat with enthusiastic feeling in favor 
of the liberty of his race, that he had so long dreamed 
of. " The last shall be first, and the first shall be 
last," seemed to him to mean something. He saw in 



NAT TURNER. 63 

it the overthrow of the whites, and the establishing 
of the blacks in their stead, and to this end he bent 
the energies of his mind. In February, 1831, Nat 
received his last communication, and beheld his last 
vision. He said, " I was told I should arise and pre- 
pare myself, and slay my enemies with their own 
weapons." 

The plan of an insurrection was now formed in his 
own mind, and the time had arrived for him to take 
others into the secret ; and he at once communicated 
his ideas to four of his friends, in whom he had im- 
plicit confidence. Hark Travis, Nelson Williams, Sam 
Edwards, and Henry Porter were slaves like himself, 
and like him had taken their names from their masters. 
A meeting must be held with these, and it must take 
place in some secluded place, where the whites would 
not disturb them ; and a meeting was appointed. The 
spot where they assembled was as wild and romantic 
as were the visions that had been impressed upon the 
mind of their leader. 

Three miles from where Nat lived was a dark swamp 
filled with reptiles, in the middle of which was a dry 
spot, reached by a narrow, winding path, and upon 
which human feet seldom trod, on account of its hav- 
ing been the place where a slave had been tortured 
to death by a slow fire, for the crime of having flogged 
his cruel and inhuman master. The night for the 
meeting arrived, and they came together. Hark 
brought a pig ; Sarn, bread ; Nelson, sweet potatoes ; 
and Henry, brandy ; and the gathering was turned 
into a feast. Others were taken in, and joined the 
conspiracy. All partook heartily of the food and 
drank freely, except Nat. He fasted and prayed. It 



64 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

was agreed that the revolt should commence that night, 
and in their own master's households, and that each 
slave should give his oppressor the death blow. Be- 
fore they left the swamp Nat made a speech, in which 
he said, " Friends and brothers : We are to commence 
a great work to-night. Our race is to be delivered 
from slavery, and God has appointed us as the men to 
do his bidding, and let us be worthy of our calling. 
I am told to slay all the whites we encounter, without 
regard to age or sex. We have no arms or ammu- 
nition, but we will find these in the houses of our 
oppressors, and as we go on others can join us. Re- 
member that we do not go forth for the sake of blood 
and carnage, but it is necessary that in the commence- 
ment of this revolution all the whites we meet should 
die, until we shall have an army strong enough to 
carry on the war upon a Christian basis. Remember 
that ours is not a war for robbery and to satisfy our 
passions ; it is a struggle for freedom. Ours must be 
deeds, and not words. Then let's away to the scene 
of action." 

Among those who had joined the conspirators was 
Will, a slave, who scorned the idea of taking his 
master's name. Though his soul longed to be free, he 
evidently became one of the party, as much to satisfy 
revenge, as for the liberty that he saw in the dim dis- 
tance. Will had seen a dear and beloved wife sold to 
the negro trader and taken away, never to be beheld 
by him again in this life. His own back was covered 
with scars, from his shoulders to his feet. A large scar, 
running from his right eye down to his chin, showed 
that he had lived with a cruel master. Nearly six feet 
in height, and one of the strongest and most athletic 



NAT TURNER. 65 

of his race, he proved to be the most unfeeling of all 
the insurrectionists. His only weapon was a broad- 
axe, sharp and heavy. 

Nat and his accomplices at once started for the 
plantation of Joseph Travis, with whom the four lived, 
and there the first blow was struck. In his confession, 
just before his execution, Nat said, — 

" On returning to the house, Hark went to the door 
with an axe, for the purpose of breaking it open, as 
we knew we were strong enough to murder the family 
should they be awakened by the noise ; but reflecting 
that it might create an alarm in the neighborhood, we 
determined to enter the house secretly, and murder 
them whilst sleeping. Hark got a ladder and set it 
against the chimney, on which I ascended, and hoist- 
ing a window, entered and came down stairs, unbarred 
the doors, and removed the guns from their places. 
It was then observed that I must spill the first blood. 
On which, armed with a hatchet, and accompanied by 
Will, I entered my master's chamber. It being dark, 
I could not give a death blow. The hatchet glanced 
from his head ; he sprang from the bed and called his 
wife. It was his last word ; Will laid him dead with 
a blow of his axe, and Mrs. Travis shared the same 
fate, as she lay in bed. The murder of this family, 
five in number, was the work of a moment ; not one 
of them awoke. There was a little infant sleeping in 
a cradle, that was forgotten until we had left the house 
and gone some distance, when Henry and Will re- 
turned and killed it. We got here four guns that 
would shoot, and several old muskets, with a pound 
or two of powder. We remained for some time at the 
barn, where we paraded ; I formed them in line as 
6* 



66 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

soldiers, and after carrying them through all the 
manoeuvres I was master of, marched them off to Mr. 
Salathiel Francis's, about six hundred yards distant. 

" Sam and Will went to the door and knocked. 
Mr. Francis asked who was there ; Sam replied it was 
he, and he had a letter for him ; on this he got up 
and came to the door ; they immediately seized him 
and dragging him out a little from the door, he was 
despatched by repeated blows on the head. There was 
no other white person in the family. We started from 
there to Mrs. Reese's, maintaining the most perfect 
silence on our march, where, finding the door un- 
locked, we entered and murdered Mrs. Reese in her 
bed while sleeping ; her son awoke, but only to sleep 
the sleep of death ; he had only time to say, ' Who is 
that ? ' and he was no more. From Mrs. Reese's we 
went to Mrs. Turner's, a mile distant, which we 
reached about sunrise, on Monday morning. Henry, 
Austin, and Sam, went to the still, where, finding Mr. 
Peebles, Austin shot him ; the rest of us went to the 
house. As we approached, the family discovered us 
and shut the door. Vain hope ! Will, with one 
stroke of his axe, opened it, and we entered, and found 
Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Newsonie in the middle of a 
room, almost frightened to death. Will immediately 
killed Mrs. Turner with one blow of his axe. I took 
Mrs. Newsome by the hand, and with the sword I had 
when apprehended, I struck her several blows over the 
head, but was not able to kill her, as the sword was 
dull. Will, turning round and discovering it, de- 
spatched her also. A general destruction of property, 
and search for money and ammunition, always suc- 
ceeded the murders. 



NAT TURNER. 67 

" By this time, my company amounted to fifteen, 
nine men mounted, who started for Mrs. Whitehead's, 
(the other six were to go through a by-way to Mr. 
Bryant's, and rejoin us at Mrs. Whitehead's.) As wo 
approached the house we discovered Mr. Richard 
Whitehead standing in the cotton patch, near the lane 
fence ; we called him over into the lane, and Will, the ex- 
ecutioner, was near at hand, with his fatal axe, to send 
him to an untimely grave. As we pushed on to the 
house, I discovered some one running round the gar- 
den, and thinking it was some of the white family, I 
pursued, but finding it was a servant girl belonging to 
the house, I returned to commence the work of death ; 
but they whom I left had not' been idle : all the family 
were already murdered but Mrs. Whitehead and her 
daughter Margaret. As I came round to the door I 
saw Will pulling Mrs. Whitehead out of the house, 
and at the step he nearly severed her head from her 
body with his broadaxe. Miss Margaret, when I dis- 
covered her, had concealed herself in the corner 
formed by the projection of the cellar cap from the 
house ; on my approach she fled, but was soon over- 
taken, and after repeated blows with a sword, I killed 
her by a blow over the head with a fence rail. By 
this time the six who had gone by Mr. Bryant's re- 
joined us, and informed me they had done the work 
of death assigned them. We again divided, part 
going to Mr. Richard Porter's, and from thence to 
Nathaniel Francis's, the others to Mr. Howell Harris's 
and Mr. T. Doyles's. On my reaching Mr. Porter's, 
he had escaped with his family. I understood there 
that the alarm had already spread, and I immediately 
returned to bring up those sent to Mr. Doyles's and Mr. 



68 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Howell Harris's; the party I left going onto Mi, 
Francis's, having told them I would join them in that 
neighborhood. I met those sent to Mr. Doyles's and 
Mr. Howell Harris's returning, having met Mr. Doyles 
on the road and killed him. Learning from some who 
joined them, that Mr. Harris was from home, I imme- 
diately pursued the course taken by the party gone on 
before ; but knowing that they would complete the 
work of death and pillage at Mr. Francis's before I 
could get there, I went to Mr. Peter Edwards's, ex- 
pecting to find them there ; but they had been there 
already. I then went to Mr. John T. Barrow's ; they 
had been there and murdered him. I pursued on their 
track to Captain Newitt Harris's. I found the greater 
part mounted and ready to start ; the men, now 
amounting to about forty, shouted and hurrahed as I 
rode up ; some were in the yard loading their guns, 
others drinking. They said Captain Harris and his 
family had escaped ; the property in the house they 
destroyed, robbing him of money and other valuables. 
I ordered them to mount and march instantly ; this 
was about nine or ten o'clock, Monday morning. I 
proceeded to Mr. Levi Waller's, two or three miles 
distant. I took my station in the rear, and as it was 
my object to carry terror and devastation wherever we 
went, I placed fifteen or twenty of the best mounted 
and most to be relied on in front, who generally ap- 
proached the houses as fast as their horses could run ; 
this was for two purposes, to prevent their escape and 
strike terror to the inhabitants — on this account I 
never got to the houses, after leaving Mrs. White- 
head's, until the murders were committed, except in 
one case. I sometimes got in sight in time to see the 



NAT TUKNER. 69 

work of death completed, viewed the mangled bodies 
as they lay, in silent satisfaction, and immediately 
started in quest of other victims. Having murdered 
Mrs. Waller and ten children, we started for Mr. 
William Williams's. We killed him and two little 
boys that were there : while engaged in this, Mrs. 
Williams fled, and got some distance from the house ; 
but she was pursued, overtaken, and compelled to get 
up behind one of the company, who brought her back, 
and after showing her the mangled body of her life- 
less husband, she was told to get down and lie by his 
side, where she was shot dead. I then started for Mr. 
Jacob Williams's, where the family were murdered. 
Here we found a young man named Drury, who had 
come on business with Mr. Williams ; he was pur- 
sued, overtaken, and shot. Mrs. Vaughan's was the 
next place we visited ; and after murdering the family 
here, I determined on starting for Jerusalem. Our 
number amounted now to fifty or sixty, all mounted and 
armed with guns, axes, swords, and clubs. On reach- 
ing Mr. James W. Parker's gate, immediately on the 
road leading to Jerusalem, and about three miles dis- 
tant, it was proposed to me to call there ; but I objected, 
as I knew he was gone to Jerusalem, and my object 
was to reach there as soon as possible ; but some of 
the men having relations at Mr. Parker's, it was agreed 
that they might call and get his people. I remained 
at the gate on the road, with seven or eight, the others 
going across the field to the house, about half a mile 
off. After waiting some time for them, I became im- 
patient, and started to the house for them, and on our 
return we were met by a party of white men, who had 
pursued our blood-stained track, and who had fired on 



70 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

those at the gate, and dispersed them, which I knew 
nothing of, not having been at that time rejoined by 
any of them. Immediately on discovering the whites, 
I ordered my men to halt and form, as they appeared 
to be alarmed. The white men, eighteen in number, 
approached us in about one hundred yards, when one 
of them fired, and I discovered about half of them, 
retreating. I then ordered my men to fire and rush 
on them ; the few remaining stood their ground until 
we approached within fifty yards, when they fired and 
retreated. We pursued and overtook some of them, 
whom we thought we left dead ; after pursuing them 
about two hundred yards, and rising a little hill, I dis- 
covered they were met by another party, and had 
halted, and were reloading their guns, thinking that 
those who retreated first, and the party who fired oil 
us at fifty or sixty yards distant, had only fallen back 
to meet others with ammunition. As I saw them re- 
loading their guns, and more coming up than I saw at 
first, and sever u of my bravest men being wounded, 
the others became panic-struck and scattered over the 
field ; the wnite men pursued and fired on us several 
times. Hark had his horse shot under him, and I 
caught another for him that was running by me ; five 
or six of my men were wounded, but none left on the 
field. Finding myself defeated here, I instantly de- 
termined to go through a private way, and cross the 
Nottoway Eiver at the Cypress Bridge, three miles be- 
low Jerusalem, and attack that place in the rear, as I 
expected they would look for me on the other road, 
and I had a great desire to get there to procure arms 
and ammunition." 

Reinforcements came to the whites, and the blacks 



NAT TURNER. 71 

were overpowered and defeated bj the superior num- 
bers of their enemy. In this battle many were slain 
on both sides. Will, the bloodthirsty and revengeful 
slave, fell with his broadaxe uplifted, after having laid 
three jof the whites dead at his feet with his own 
strong arm and his terrible weapon. His last words 
were, " Bury my axe with me." For he religiously 
believed that in the next world the blacks would have 
a contest with the whites, and that he would need his 
axe. Nat Turner, after fighting to the last with his 
short sword, escaped with some others to the woods 
near by, and was not captured for nearly two months. 
When brought to trial he pleaded " not guilty;" feel- 
ing, as he said, that it was always 'right for one to 
strike for his own liberty. After going through a 
mere form of trial, he was convicted and executed at 
Jerusalem, the county seat for Southampton county, 
Virginia. Not a limb trembled or a muscle was ob- 
served to move. Thus died Nat Turner, at the early 
age of thirty-one years — a martyr to the freedom of 
his race, and a victim to his own fanaticism. He 
meditated upon the wrongs of his oppressed and in- 
jured people, till the idea of tbeir deliverance excluded 
all other ideas from his mind, and he devoted his life 
to its realization. Every thing appeared to him a 
vision, and all favorable omens were signs from God. 
That he was sincere in all that he professed, there is 
not the slightest doubt. After being defeated he might 
have escaped to the free states, but the hope of raising 
a new band kept him from doing so. 

He impressed his image upon the minds of those 
who once beheld him. His looks, his sermons, his 
acts, and his heroism live in the hearts of his race, on 



72 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

every cotton, sugar, and rice plantation at the south. 
The present generation of slaves have a superstitious 
veneration for his name, and believe that in another 
insurrection Nat Turner will appear and take com- 
mand. He foretold that at his death the sun would 
refuse to shine, and that there would be signs of disap- 
probation given from heaven. And it is true that the 
sun was darkened, a storm gathered, and more bois- 
terous weather had never appeared in Southampton 
county than on the day of Nat's execution. The 
sheriff, warned by the prisoner, refused to cut the cord 
that held the trap. No black man would touch the 
rope. A poor old white man, long besotted by drink, 
was brought forty miles to be the executioner. And 
even the planters, with all their prejudice and hatred, 
believed him honest and sincere ; for Mr. Gray, who 
had known Nat from boyhood, and to whom he made 
his confession, says of him, — 

" It has been said that he was ignorant and coward- 
ly, and that his object was to murder and rob, for the 
purpose of obtaining money to make his escape. It is 
notorious that he was never known to have a dollar 
in his life, to swear an oath, or drink a drop of spirits. 
As to his ignorance, he certainly never had the ad- 
vantages of education ; but he can read and write, 
and for natural intelligence and quickness of appre- 
hension, is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. 
As to his being a coward, his reason, as given, for not 
resisting Mr. Phipps, shows the decision of his charac- 
ter. When he saw Mr. Phipps present his gun, he 
said he knew it was impossible for him to escape, as 
the woods were full of men ; he therefore thought it 
was better for him to surrender, and trust to fortune 



NAT TURNER. 73 

for his escape. He is a complete fanatic, or plays his 
part most admirably. On other subjects he possesses 
an uncommon share of intelligence, with a mind capa- 
ble of attaining any thing, but warped and perverted 
by the influence of early impressions. He is below 
the ordinary stature, though strong and active ; having 
the true negro face, every feature of which is strongly 
marked. I shall not attempt to describe the effect of 
his narrative, as told and commented on by himself, 
in the condemned hole of the prison ; the calm, delib- 
erate composure with which he spoke of his late deeds 
and intentions ; the expressions of his fiend-like face, 
when excited by enthusiasm — still bearing the stains 
of the blood of helpless innocence about him, clothed 
with rags and covered with chains, yet daring to raise 
his manacled hands to heaven, with a spirit soaring 
above the attributes of man ; I looked on him, and 
the blood curdled in my veins." 

Well might he feel the blood curdle in his veins, 
when he remembered that in every southern house- 
hold there may be a Nat Turner, in whose soul God 
has lighted a torch of liberty that cannot be extin- 
guished by the hand of man. The slaveholder should 
understand that he lives upon a volcano, which may 
burst forth at any moment, and give freedom to his 
victim. 

" Great God, hasten on the glad jubilee, 
When my brother in bonds shall arise and be free, 
And our blotted escutcheon be washed from its stains, 
Now the scorn of the world — four millions in chains ! 
O, then shall Columbia's proud flag be unfurled, 
The glory of freemen, and pride of the world, 
While earth's strolling millions point hither in glee, 
' To the land of the brave and the home of the free ! ' " 

7 



74 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Fifty-five whites and seventy-three blacks lost their 
lives in the Southampton rebellion. On the fatal 
night when Nat and his companions were dealing 
death to all they found, Captain Harris, a wealthy 
planter, had his life saved by the devotion and timely 
warning of his slave Jim, said to have been half- 
brother to his master. After the revolt had been put 
down, and parties of whites were out hunting the sus- 
pected blacks, Captain Harris, with his faithful slave, 
went into the woods in search of the negroes. In 
saving his master's life, Jim felt that he had done his 
duty, and could not consent to become a betrayer of 
his race, and, on reaching the woods, he handed his 
pistol to his master, and said, " I cannot help you hunt 
down these men ; they, like myself, want to be free. 
Sir, I am tired of the life of a slave ; please give me 
my freedom, or shoot me on the spot." Captain Har 
ris took the weapon and pointed it at the slave. Jim, 
putting his right hand upon his heart, said, " This is 
the spot ; aim here." The captain fired, and the slave 
fell dead at his feet. 

From this insurrection, and other manifestations of 
insubordination by the slave population, the southern 
people, if they are wise, should learn a grave lesson ; 
for the experience of the past might give them some 
clew to the future. 

Thirty years' free discussion has materially changed 
public opinion in the non-slaveholding states, and a 
negro insurrection, in the present excited state of the 
nation, would not receive the condemnation that it did 
in 1831. The right of man to the enjoyment of free- 
dom is a settled point ; and where he is deprived of 
this, without any criminal act of his own, it is his duty 
to regain his liberty at every cost. 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 75 

If the oppressor is struck down in the contest, his 
fall will be a just one, and all the world will applaud 
the act: 

This is a new era, and we are in the midst of the 
most important crisis that our country has yet wit- 
nessed. And in the crisis the negro is an important 
item. Every eye is now turned towards the south, 
looking for another Nat Turner. 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 

Among the great number of fugitive slaves who 
arrived in Canada towards the close of the year 1840, 
was one whose tall figure, firm step, and piercing eye 
attracted at once, the attention of all who beheld him. 
Nature had treated him as a favorite. His expressive 
countenance painted and reflected every emotion of 
his soul. There was a fascination in the gaze of his 
finely-cut eyes that no one could withstand. Born of 
African parentage, with no mixture in his blood, he 
was one of the handsomest of his race. His dignified, 
calm, and unaffected features announced at a glance 
that he was one endowed with genius, and created to 
guide his fellow-men. He called himself Madison 
Washington, and said that his birthplace was in the 
" Old Dominion." He might have seen twenty-five 
years ; but very few slaves have any correct idea of 
their age. Madison was not poorly dressed, and had 
some money at the end of his journey, which showed 
that he was not from among the worst used slaves 
of the south. He immediately sought employment at 



76 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

a neighboring farm, where he remained some months. 
A strong, able-bodied man, and a good worker, and 
apparently satisfied with his situation, his employer 
felt that he had a servant who would stay with him a 
long while. The farmer would occasionally raise a 
conversation, and try to draw from Madison some ac- 
count of his former life ; but in this he failed, for the 
fugitive was a man of few words, and kept his own 
secrets. His leisure hours were spent in learning to 
read and write, and in this he seemed to take the ut- 
most interest. He appeared to take no interest in the 
sports and amusements that occupied the attention of 
others. Six months had not passed ere Madison began 
to show signs of discontent. In vain his employer 
tried to discover the cause. 

" Do I not pay you enough, and treat you in a be- 
coming manner?" asked Mr. Dickson one day when 
the fugitive seemed in a very desponding mood. 

" Yes, sir," replied Madison. 

" Then why do you appear so much dissatisfied, of 
late ? " 

" Well, sir," said the fugitive, " since you have 
treated me with such kindness, and seem to take so 
much interest in me, I will tell you the reason why I 
have changed, and appear to you to be dissatisfied. I 
was born in slavery, in the State of Virginia. From 
my earliest recollections I hated slavery and determined 
to be free. I have never yet called any man master, 
though I have been held by three different men who 
claimed me as their property. The birds in the trees 
and the wild beasts of the forest made me feel that I, 
like them, ought to be free. My feelings were all thus 
centred in the one idea of liberty, of which I thought 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 77 

by day and dreamed by night. I had scarcely reached 
my twentieth year when I became acquainted with the 
angelic being who has since become my wife. It was 
my intention to have escaped with her before we were 
married, but circumstances prevented. 

" I took her to my bosom as my wife, and then 
resolved to make the attempt. But unfortunately my 
plans were discovered, and to save myself from being 
caught and sold off to the far south I escaped to the 
woods, where I remained during many weary months. 
As I could not bring my wife away, I would not come 
without her. Another reason for remaining was, that 
I hoped to get up an insurrection of the slaves, and 
thereby be the means of their liberation. In this, too, 
I failed. At last it was agreed between my wife and 
me that I should escape to Canada, get employment, 
save my money, and with it purchase her freedom. 
With the hope of attaining this end I came into your 
service. I am now satisfied that, with the wages I can 
command here, it will take me not less than five years 
to obtain by my labor the amount sufficient to pur- 
chase the liberty of my dear Susan. Five years will 
be too long for me to wait, for she may die or be sold 
away ere I can raise the money. This, sir, makes me 
feel low-spirited, and I have come to the rash deter- 
mination to return to Virginia for my wife." 

The recital of the story had already brought tears 
to the eyes of the farmer, ere the fugitive had con- 
cluded. In vain did Mr. Dickson try to persuade 
Madison to give up the idea of going back into the 
very grasp of the tyrant, and risking the loss of his 
own freedom without securing that of his wife. The 
heroic man had made up his mind, and nothing could 
7* 



78 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

move him. Receiving the amount of wages due him 
from his employer, Madison turned his face once more 
towards the south. Supplied with papers purporting 
to have been made out in Virginia, and certifying to 
his being a freeman, the fugitive had no difficulty in 
reaching the neighborhood of his wife. But these 
" free papers " were only calculated to serve him 
where he was not known. Madison had also provided 
himself with files, saws, and other implements with 
which to cut his way out of any prison into which he 
might be cast. These instruments were so small as to 
be easily concealed in the lining of his clothing ; and 
armed with them the fugitive felt sure he should 
escape again were he ever captured. On his return, 
Madison met, in the State of Ohio, many of those 
whom he had seen on his journey to Canada, and all 
tried to prevail upon him to give up the rash attempt. 
But to every one he would reply, " Liberty is worth 
nothing to me while my wife is a slave." When near 
his former home, and unable to travel in open day 
without being detected, Madison betook himself to 
the woods during the day, and travelled by night. At 
last he arrived at the old farm at night, and hid away 
in the nearest forest. Here he remained several days, 
filled with hope and fear, without being able to obtain 
any information about his wife. One evening, during 
this suspense, Madison heard the singing of a company 
of slaves, the sound of which appeared nearer and 
nearer, until he became convinced that it was a gang 
going to a corn-shucking, and the fugitive resolved 
that he would join it, and see if he could get any intel- 
ligence of his wife. 

In Virginia, as well as in most of the other corn- 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 79 

raising slave states, there is a custom of having what 
is termed " a corn-shucking," to which slaves from the 
neighboring plantations, with the consent of their 
masters, are invited. At the conclusion of the shuck- 
ing a supper is provided by the owner of the corn ; 
and thus, together with the bad whiskey which is freely 
circulated on such occasions, the slaves are made to 
feel very happy. Four or five companies of men may 
be heard in different directions and at the same time 
approaching the place of rendezvous, slaves joining 
the gangs along the roads as they pass their masters' 
farms. Madison came out upon the highway, and as 
the company came along singing, he fell into the ranks 
and joined in the song. Through the darkness of the 
night he was able to keep from being recognized by 
the remainder of the company, while he learned from 
the general conversation the most important news of 
the day. 

Although hungry and thirsty, the fugitive dared not 
go to the supper table for fear of recognition. How- . 
ever, before he left the company that night, he gained 
information enough to satisfy him that his wife was still 
with her old master, and he hoped to see her, if possi- 
ble, on the following night. The sun had scarcely set 
the next evening, ere Madison was wending his way 
out of the forest and going towards the home of his 
loved one, if the slave can be said to have a home. 
Susan, the object of his affections, was indeed a woman 
every way worthy of his love. Madison knew well 
where to find the room usually occupied by his wife, 
and to that spot he made his way on arriving at the 
plantation. But in his zeal and enthusiasm, and his 
being too confident of success, he committed a blunder 



80 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

which nearly cost him his life. Fearful that if he 
waited until a late hour Susan would be asleep, and in 
awakening her she would in her fright alarm the house- 
hold, Madison ventured to her room too early in the 
evening, before the whites in the "great house" had 
retired. Observed by the overseer, a sufficient num- 
ber of whites were called in, and the fugitive secured 
ere he could escape with his wife ; but the heroic slave 
did not yield until he with a club had laid three of his 
assailants upon the ground with his manly blows ; and 
not then until weakened by loss of blood. Madison 
was at once taken to Richmond, and sold to a slave 
trader, then making up a gang of slaves for the New 
Orleans market. 

The brig Creole, owned by Johnson & Eperson, of 
Richmond, and commanded by Captain Enson, lay at 
the Richmond dock waiting for her cargo, which 
usually consisted of tobacco, hemp, flax, and slaves. 
There were two cabins for the slaves, one for the men, 
the other for the women. The men were generally 
kept in chains while on the voyage ; but the women 
were usually unchained, and allowed to roam at pleas- 
ure in their own cabin. On the 27th of October, 1841, 
the Creole sailed from Hampton Roads, bound for 
New Orleans, with her full load of freight, one hun- 
dred and thirty-five slaves, and three passengers, be- 
sides the crew. Forty of the slaves were owned by 
Thomas McCargo', nine belonged to Henry Hewell, 
and the remainder were held by Johnson & Eperson. 
Hewell had once been an overseer for McCargo, and 
on this occasion was acting as his agent. 

Among the slaves owned by Johnson & Eperson 
was Madison Washington. He was heavily ironed, 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 81 

and chained down to the floor of the cabin occnpe 1 
by the men, which was in the forward hold. As it was 
known by Madison's purchasers that he had once 
escaped and had been in Canada, they kept a watchful 
eye over him. The two cabins were separated, so that 
the men and women had no communication whatever 
during the passage. 

Although rather gloomy at times, Madison on this 
occasion seemed very cheerful, and his owners thought 
that he had repented of the experience he had under- 
gone as a runaway, and in the future would prove a 
more easily governed chattel. But from the first hour 
that he had entered the cabin of the Creole, Madison 
had been busily engaged in the selection of men who 
were to act parts in the great drama. He picked out 
each one as if by intuition. Every thing was done at 
night and in the dark, as far as the preparation was 
concerned. The miniature saws and files were faith- 
fully used when the whites were asleep. 

In the other cabin, among the slafe women, was one 
whose beauty at once attracted attention. Though not 
tall, she yet had a majestic figure. Her well-moulded 
shoulders, prominent bust, black, hair which hung in 
ringlets, mild blue eyes, finely-chiselled mouth, with a 
splendid set of teeth, a turned and well-rounded chin, 
skin marbled with the animation of life, and veined by 
blood given to her by her master, she stood as the rep- 
resentative of two races. With only one eighth of 
African, she was what is called at the south an "octo- 
roon." It was said that her grandfather had served 
his country in the revolutionary war, as well as in both 
houses of Congress. This was Susan, the wife of 
Madison. Few slaves, even among the best used 



82 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

house servants, had so good an opportunity to gain 
general information as she. Accustomed to travel 
with her mistress, Susan had often been to Richmond, 
Norfolk, White Sulphur Springs, and other places of 
resort for the aristocracy of the Old Dominion. Her 
language was far more correct than most slaves in her 
position. Susan was as devoted to Madison as she was 
beautiful and accomplished. 

After the arrest of her husband, and his confine- 
ment in Richmond jail, it was suspected that Susan 
had long been in possession of the knowledge of his 
whereabouts when in Canada, and knew of his being 
in the neighborhood ; and for this crime it was resolved 
that she should be sold and sent off to a southern 
plantation, where all hope of escape would be at an 
end. Each was not aware that the other was on board 
the Creole, for Madison and Susan were taken to their 
respective cabins at different times. On the ninth 
day out, the Creole encountered a rough sea, and 
most of the slaved were sick, and therefore were not 
watched with that vigilance that they had been since 
the first sailed. This was the time for Madison and 
his accomplices to work, and nobly did they perform 
their duty. Night came on ; the first watch had just 
been summoned, the wind blowing high, when Madi- 
son succeeded in reaching the quarter deck, followed 
by eighteen others, all of whom sprang to different 
parts of the vessel, seizing whatever they could wield 
as weapons. The crew were nearly all on deck. Cap- 
tain Enson and Mr. Merritt,-the first mate, were stand- 
ing together, while Hewell was seated on the com- 
panion smoking a cigar. The appearance of the 
slaves all at once, and the loud voice and command- 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 83 

ing attitude of their leader, so completely surprised 
the whites, that — 

" They spake not a word ; 
But, like dumb statues, or breathless stones, 
Stared at each other, and looked deadly pale." 

The officers were all armed ; but so swift were the 
motions of Madison that they had nearly lost com- 
mand of the vessel before they attempted to use their 
weapons. 

Hewell, the greater part of whose life had been 
spent on the plantation in the capacity of a negro- 
driver, and who knew that the defiant looks of these 
men meant something, was the first to start. Draw- 
ing his old horse pistol from under his coat, he fired 
at one of the blacks and killed him. The next mo- 
ment Hewell lay dead upon the deck, for Madison had 
struck him with a capstan bar. The fight now be- 
came general, the white passengers, as well as all the 
crew, taking part. The battle was Madison's element, 
and he plunged into it without any care for his own 
preservation or safety. He was an instrument of en- 
thusiasm, whose value and whose place was in his 
inspiration. " If the fire of heaven was in my hands, 
I would throw it at these cowardly whites," said he to 
his companions, before leaving their cabin. But in 
this he did not mean revenge, only the possession of 
his freedom and that of his fellow-slaves. Merritt and 
Gifford, the first and second mates of the vessel, both 
attacked the heroic slave at the same time. Both 
were stretched out upon the deck with a single blow 
each, but were merely wounded ; they were disabled, 
and that was all that Madison cared for for the time 
being. The sailors ran up the rigging for safety, and 



84 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

a moment more he that had worn the fetters an hour 
before was master of the brig Creole. His command- 
ing attitude and daring orders, now that he was free, 
and his perfect preparation for the grand alternative 
of liberty or death which stood before him, are splen- 
did exemplifications of the truly heroic. After his 
accomplices had covered the slaver's deck, Madison 
forbade the shedding of more blood, and ordered the 
sailors to come down, which they did, and with his own 
hands he dressed their wounds. A guard was placed 
over all except Merritt, who was retained to navigate 
the vessel. With a musket doubly charged, and 
pointed at Merritt's breast, the slave made him swear 
that he would faithfully take the brig into a British 
port. All things now secure, and the white men in 
chains or under guard, Madison ordered that the fet- 
ters should be severed from the limbs of those slaves 
who still wore them. The next morning " Captain 
Washington " (for such was the name he now bore) 
ordered the cook to provide the best breakfast that the 
store room could furnish, intending to surprise his 
fellow-slaves, and especially the females, whom he had 
not yet seen. But little did he think that the woman 
for whom he had risked his liberty and life would 
meet him at the breakfast table. The meeting of the 
hero and his beautiful and accomplished wife, the 
tears of joy shed, and the hurrahs that followed from 
the men, can better be imagined than described. 
Madison's cup of joy was filled to the brim. He had 
not only gained his own liberty and that of one hun- 
dred and thirty-four others, but his dear Susan was 
safe. Only one man, Hewell, had been killed. Cap- 
tain Enson and others, who were wounded, soon recov- 



MADISON WASHINGTON. 85 

ered ; and were kindly treated by Madison ; but they 
nevertheless proved ungrateful ; for on the second 
night, Captain Enson, Mr. Gifford, and Merritt took 
advantage of the absence of Madison from the deck, 
and attempted to retake the vessel. The slaves, exas- 
perated at this treachery, fell upon the whites with 
deadly weapons. The captain and his men fled to the 
cabin, pursued by the blacks. Nothing but the hero- 
ism of the negro leader saved the lives of the white 
men on this occasion, for as the slaves were rushing 
into the cabin, Madison threw himself between them 
and their victims, exclaiming, " Stop ! no more blood. 
My life, that was perilled for your liberty, I will lay 
down for the protection of these men. They have 
proved themselves unworthy of life, which we granted 
them; still let us be magnanimous." By the kind 
heart and noble bearing of Madison, the vile slave- 
traders were again permitted to go unwhipped of 
justice. This act of humanity raised the uncouth son 
of Africa far above his Anglo-Saxon oppressors. 

The next morning the Creole landed at Nassau, 
New Providence, where the noble and heroic slaves 
were warmly greeted by the inhabitants, who at once 
offered protection, and extended their hospitality to 
them. Not many months since, an American ship 
went ashore at Nassau, and among the first to render 
assistance to the crew was Madison Washington. 
8 



86 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



HENRY BIBB. 

Henry Bibb, like most fugitive slaves, did not know 
who his father was ; that his mother was a slave was 
sufficient to decide his lot, and to send him, under fear 
of the lash, while yet a mere infant, to labor on his 
master's farm : when sufficiently old to be of much 
use to any one, he was hired out to one person and 
another for the space of eight or ten years, the pro- 
ceeds of his labor going, we are told, to defray the 
expense of educating his owner's daughters. The 
year of Henry Bibb's birth was a memorable one — 
1815 ; little, however, knew he of European strug- 
gles ; he had a great battle of his own to fight against 
tremendous odds, and he seems to have fought it 
bravely. He formed the determination to be free at a 
very early age, and nothing could shake it ; starva- 
tion, imprisonment, scourging, lacerating, punishments 
of every kind, and of every degree of severity short 
of actual death, were tried in vain ; they could not 
subdue his indomitable spirit. 

His first attempt to escape was made when he was 
about ten years of age, and from that time to 1840 his 
life was a constant series of flights and recaptures, the 
narrative of which makes one thrill and shudder at 
the sufferings endured and the barbarities inflicted. 
Securing his freedom by his own good legs, Henry 
Bibb at once began seeking an education ; and in this 
he succeeded far beyond many white men who have 
had all the avenues to learning open to them. In per- 
sonal appearance he was tall and slim, a pleasing coun- 



HENRY BIBB. 87 

tenance, half white, hair brown, eyes gray, and pos- 
sessed a musical voice, and a wonderful power of 
delivery. No one who heard Mr. Bibb, in the years 
1847, '8, and '9, can forget the deep impression that 
lie left behind him. His natural eloquence and his 
songs enchained an audience as long as the speaker 
wanted them. In 1849, we believe, he went to Can- 
ada, and started a weekly paper called The Voice of 
the Fugitives, at Windsor. His journal was well con- 
ducted, and was long regarded as indispensable in 
every fugitive's house. His first wife being left in 
slavery, and no hope of her escaping, Mr. Bibb mar- 
ried for his second wife the well-educated and highly- 
cultivated Mary E. Miles, of Boston. After being in 
Canada a while, the two opened a school for their 
escaped brothers and sisters, which proved a lasting ben- 
efit to that much-injured class. His efforts to purchase 
a tract of land, and to deal it out in lots to the fugi- 
tives at a reasonable price, was only one of the many 
kind acts of this good man. There are few charac- 
ters more worthy of the student's study and imitation 
than that of Henry Bibb. From an ignorant slave, he 
became an educated free man, by his own powers, and 
left a name that will not soon fade away. 

In one of Cassimir de la Vigne's dramas, we met 
with an expression which struck us forcibly. It was 
said of Don John, who was ignorant of his birth, that 
perhaps he was a nobody ; to which he replied, (" That 
a man of good character and honorable conduct could 
never be a nobody." jWe consider this an admirable 
reply, and have endeavored to prove this truth by the 
foregoing example. If it is gratifying and noble to 
bear with honor the name of one's father, it is surely 



88 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

more noble to make a name for one's self; and our 
heart tells us that among our young readers there is 
more than one who will exclaim with ardor, and 
with a firm resolution to fulfil his promise, i, too, 
shall make a name. 



PLACIDO, 



In the year 1830, there was a young man in Ha- 
vana, son of a woman who had been brought, when 
a child, from the coast of Africa, and sold as a slave. 
Being with a comparatively kind master, he soon found 
opportunity to begin developing the genius which at a 
later period showed itself. The young slave was called 
Placido. He took an especial interest in poetry, and 
often wrote poems that were set to music and sung in 
the drawing rooms of the most refined companies 
which assembled in the city. His young master pay- 
ing his addresses to a rich heiress, the slave was re- 
quested to write a poem embodying the master's passion 
for the young lady. Placido acquitted himself to the 
entire satisfaction of the lover, who copied the epistle 
in' his own hand, and sent it on its mission. The 
slave's compositions were so much admired that they 
found their way into the newspaper ; but no one knew 
the negro as the author. In 1838, these poems, to- 
gether with a number which had never appeared in 
print, were intrusted to a white man, who sent them to 
England, where they were published and much praised 
for the talent and scholarly attainment which they 



PLACIDO. 80 

developed. A number of young whites, who wtre 
well acquainted with Placido and his genius, resolved 
to purchase him and present him his freedom, which 
they did in the year 1842. But a new field had 
opened itself to the freed black, and he began to tread in 
its paths. Freedom for himself was only the beginning ; 
he sighed to make others free. The imaginative brain 
of the poet produced verses which the slaves sung in 
their own rude way, and which kindled in their hearts 
a more intense desire for liberty. Placido planned an 
insurrection of the slaves, in which he was to be their 
leader and deliverer ; but the scheme failed. After a 
hasty trial, he was convicted and sentenced to death. 
The fatal day came ; he walked to the place of execu- 
tion with as much calmness as if it had been to an 
ordinary resort of pleasure. His manly and heroic 
bearing excited the sympathy and admiration of all 
who saw him. As he arrived at the fatal spot he be- 
gan reciting the following hymn, which he had written 
in his cell the previous night : — 

TO GOD — A PRAYER. 

" Almighty God ! whose goodness knows no bound, 

To thee I flee in my severe distress ; 

O let thy potent arm my wrongs redress, 
And rend the odious veil by slander wound 
About my brow. The base world's arm confound, 

Who on my front would now the seal of shame impress. 

God of my sires, to whom all kings must yield, 

Be thou alone my shield ; protect me now : 

All power is His, to whom the sea doth owe 
His countless stores ; who clothed with light heaven's field, 
And made the sun, and air, and polar seas congealed ; 

All plants with life endowed, and made the rivers flow. 

8* 



90 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

All power is thine : 'twas thy creative might 

This goodly frame of things from chaos brought, 
Which unsustained by thee would still be nought, 

As erst it lay deep in the womb of night, 

Ere thy dread word first called it into light ; 

Obedient to thy call, it lived, and moved, and thought. 

Thou know'st my heart, O God, supremely wise ; 

Thine eye, all-seeing, cannot be deceived ; 

By thee mine inmost soul is clear perceived, 
As objects gross are through transparent skies 
By mortal ken. Thy mercy exercise, 

Lest slander foul exult o'er innocence aggrieved. 

But if 'tis fixed, by thy decree divine, 

That I must bear the pain of guilt and shame, 
And that my foes this cold and senseless frame 

Shall rudely treat with scorn and shouts malign, 

Give thou the word, and I my breath resign, 

Obedient to thy will. Blest be thy holy name ! " 
• 

When all preparation for the execution had been 
finished, Placido asked the privilege of giving the sig- 
nal, and it was granted. With his face wearing an 
expression of almost superhuman courage, he said in 
Spanish, " Adieu, world ; there is no justice or pity 
for me here. Soldiers, fire ! " Five balls entered his 
body, but did not deprive him of life. Still unsubdued, 
he again spoke, and placing his hand on his breast, said, 
" Fire here." Two balls from the reserve entered his 
heart, and he fell dead. 

Thus died Placido, the slave's poet of freedom. His 
songs are still sung in the bondman's hut, and his 
name is a household word to all. As the Marseillaise 
was sung by the revolutionists of France, and inspired 
the people with a hatred to oppressors, so will the 
slaves of Cuba, at a future day, sing the songs of their 
poet-martyr, and their cry will be, " Placido and 
Liberty." 



JEREMIAH B. SANDERSON. 91 



JEREMIAH B. SANDERSON 

New Bedford has produced a number of highly- 
intelligent men of the " doomed race ;" men who, by 
their own efforts, have attained positions, intellectually, 
which, if they had been of the more favored class, 
would have introduced them into the halls of Congress. 
One of these is J. B. Sanderson. An industrious stu- 
dent, and an ardent lover of literature, he has read 
more than almost any one of his years within our 
circle of acquaintance. History, theology, and the 
classics, he is master of. We first met him while he 
was on a tour through the west, as a lecturer on slavery, 
and the impression then made on our mind became 
still stronger as we knew more of him. Although not 
at the time an ordained minister Mr. Sanderson, in 
1848, preached for one of the religious societies of 
New Bedford, on Sunday, and attended to his vocation 
(hair dresser) during the week. Some of the best 
educated of the whites were always in attendance on 
these occasions. His sermons were generally beyond 
the comprehension of his hearers, except those well 
read. Emerson, Carlyle, and Theodore Parker, were 
represented in his discourses, which were always re- 
plete with historical incidents. Mr. Sanderson has 
been several years in California, where he now preaches 
to an intelligent congregation and is considered one of 
the ablest religious teachers in the Pacific state. 

"Honor and fame from no condition rise : 
Act well your part — there all the honor lies." 

" Who does the best his circumstance allows, 
Does well, acts nobly : angels could no more." 



92 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

In stature Mr. Sanderson is somewhat above the 
medium height, finely formed, well-developed head, 
and a pleasing face ; an excellent voice, which he 
knows how to use. His gestures are correct without 
being studied, and his sentences always tell upon his 
audience. Pew speakers are more happy in their de- 
livery than he. In one of those outbursts of true 
eloquence for which he is so noted, we still remember 
the impression made upon his hearers, when, on one 
occasion, he exclaimed, " Neither men nor govern- 
ments have a right to sell those of their species ; men 
and their liberty are neither purchasable nor salable. 
This is the law of nature, which is obligatory on all 
men, at all times, and in all places." 

All accounts from California speak of J. B. Sander- 
son as doing more for the enfranchisement and eleva- 
tion of his race than any one who has gone from the 
Atlantic states. 



TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 

At the commencement of the French revolution, in 
1789, there were nine hundred thousand inhabitants 
on the Island of St. Domingo. Of these, seven hun- 
dred thousand were Africans, sixty thousand mixed 
blood, and the remainder were whites and Caribbeans. 
Like the involuntary servitude in our own Southern 
States, slavery in St. Domingo kept morality at a low 
stand. Owing to the amalgamation between masters 
and slaves, there arose the mulatto population, which 
eventually proved to be the worst enemies of their 
fathers. 



TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 93 

Many of the planters sent their mulatto sons to 
France to be educated. When these young men re- 
turned to the island, they were greatly dissatisfied at 
the proscription which met them wherever they ap- 
peared. White enough to make them hopeful and 
aspiring, many of the mulattoes possessed wealth 
enough to make them influential. Aware, by their 
education, of the principles of freedom that were 
being advocated in Europe and the United States, they 
were ever on the watch to seize opportunities to better 
their social and political condition. In the French 
part of the island alone, twenty thousand whites lived 
in the midst of thirty thousand free mulattoes and five 
hundred thousand slaves. In the Spanish portion, the 
odds were still greater in favor of the slaves. Thus 
the advantage of numbers and physical strength was 
on the side of the oppressed. Right is the most dan- 
gerous of weapons — woe to him who leaves it to his 
enemies ! 

The efforts of Wilberforce, Sharp, Buxton, and Clark 
son to abolish the African slave trade, and their ad- 
vocacy of the equality of the races, were well under- 
stood by the men of color. They had also learned 
their own strength in the island, and that they had 
the sympathy of all Europe with them. The news of 
the oath of the Tennis Court and the taking of the 
Bastile at Paris was received with the wildest enthu- 
siasm by the people of St. Domingo. 

The announcement of these events was hailed with 
delight by both the white planters and the mulattoes ; 
the former, because they hoped that a revolution in 
the mother country would secure to them the inde- 
pendence of the colony ; the latter, because they 



94 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

viewed it as a movement that would give them equal 
rights with the whites ; and even the slaves regarded it 
as a precursor to their own emancipation. But the 
excitement which the outbreak at Paris had created 
amongst the free men of color and the slaves, at once 
convinced the planters that a separation from France 
would be the death-knell of slavery in St. Domingo. 

Although emancipated by law from the dominion of 
individuals, the mulattoes had no rights : shut out 
from society by their color, deprived of religious and 
political privileges, they felt their degradation even 
more keenly than the bond slaves. The mulatto son 
was not allowed to dine at his father's table, kneel 
with him in his devotions, bear his name, inherit his 
property, nor even to lie in his father's graveyard. 
Laboring as they were under the sense of their per- 
sonal social wrongs, the mulattoes tolerated, if they 
did not encourage, low and vindictive passions. They 
were haughty and disdainful to the blacks, whom they 
scorned, and jealous and turbulent to the whites, whom 
they hated and feared. 

The mulattoes at once despatched one of their num- 
ber to Paris, to lay before the Constitutional Assembly 
their claim to equal rights with the whites. Vincent 
Oge\ their deputy, was well received at Paris by Lafay- 
ette, Brissot, Barnave, and Gregoire, and was admitted 
to a seat in the Assembly, where he eloquently por- 
trayed the wrongs of his race. In urging his claims, 
he said, if equality was withheld from the mulattoes, 
they would appeal to force. This was seconded by 
Lafayette and Barnave, who said, '/ Perish the colonies 
rather than a principle."/ 

The Assembly passed a decree granting the demands 



TOUSSAINT i/OUVERTURE. % 

of the men of color, and Oge" was made hearer of the 
news to his brethren. The planters armed themselves, 
met the young deputy on his return to the island, and 
a battle ensued. The free colored men rallied around 
Oge, but they were defeated and taken, with their brave 
leader, were first tortured, and then broken alive on 
the wheel. 

The prospect of freedom was put down for the time, 
but the blood of Oge" and his companions bubbled 
silently in the hearts of the African race ; they swore 
to avenge them. 

The announcement of the death of Oge in the halls 
of the Assembly at Paris created considerable excite- 
ment, and became the topic of conversation in the 
clubs and on the Boulevards. Gregoire defended the 
course of the colored men, and said, " If Liberty was 
right in France, it was right in St. Domingo." He 
well knew that the crime for which Oge had suffered 
in the West Indies, had constituted the glory of Mira- 
beau and Lafayette at Paris, and Washington and 
Hancock in the United States. The planters in the 
island trembled at their own oppressive acts, and terror* 
urged them on to greater violence. The blood of 
Oge and his accomplices had sown every where despair 
and conspiracy. The French sent an army to St. Do- 
mingo to enforce the laws. 

The planters repelled with force the troops sent out 
by France, denying its prerogatives and refusing the 
civic oath. In the midst of these thickening troubles, 
the planters who resided in France were invited to 
return and assist in vindicating the civil independence 
of the island. Then was it that the mulattoes earnestly 
• appealed to the slaves, and the result was appalling. 



96 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

The slaves awoke as from an ominous dream, and de- 
manded their rights with sword in hand. Gaining 
immediate success, and finding that their liberty would 
not be granted by the planters, they rapidly increased 
in numbers ; and in less than a week from its com- 
mencement, the storm had swept over the whole plain 
of the north, from east to west, and from the moun- 
tains to the sea. The splendid villas and rich facto- 
ries yielded to the furies of the devouring flames ; so 
that the mountains, covered with smoke and burning 
cinders, borne upwards by the wind, looked like vol- 
canoes ; and the atmosphere, as if on fire, resembled 
a furnace. 

Such were the outraged feelings of a people whose 
ancestors had been ruthlessly torn from their native 
land, and sold in the shambles of St. Domingo. To 
terrify the blacks and convince them that they could 
never be free, the planters were murdering them on 
every hand by thousands. 

The struggle in St. Domingo was watched with in- 
tense interest by the friends of the blacks, both in 
Paris and in London, and all appeared to look with 
hope to the rising up of a black chief, who should 
prove himself adequate to the - emergency. Nor did 
they look in vain. In the midst of the disorders that 
threatened on all sides, the negro chief made his 
appearance in the person of a slave, named Toussaint. 
This man was the grandson of the King of Ardra, one 
of the most powerful and wealthy monarchs on the 
west coast of Africa. By his own energy and perse- 
verance, Toussaint had learned to read and write, and 
was held in high consideration by the surrounding 
planters as well as their slaves. 



TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 97 

His private virtues were many, and he had a deep 
and pervading sense of religion, and in the camp 
carried it even as far as Oliver Cromwell. Toussaint 
was born on the island, and was fifty years of age when 
called into the field. One of his chief characteristics 
was his humanity. 

Before taking any part in the revolution, he aided 
his master's family to escape from the impending 
danger. After seeing them beyond the reach of the 
revolutionary movement, he entered the army as an in- 
ferior officer, but was soon made aid-de-camp to Gen- 
eral Bissou. Disorder and bloodshed reigned through- 
out the island, and every day brought fresh intelligence 
of depredations committed by whites, mulattoes, and 
blacks. 

Such was the condition of affairs when a decree was 
passed by the Colonial Assembly giving equal rights to 
the mulattoes, and asking their aid in restoring order 
and reducing the slaves again to their chains. Over- 
come by this decree, and having gained all they wished, 
the free colored men joined the planters in a murder- 
ous crusade against the slaves. This union of the 
whites and mulattoes to prevent the bondman getting 
his freedom, created an ill feeling between the two 
proscribed classes which seventy years have not been 
able to efface. The French government sent a second 
army to St. Domingo, to enforce the laws giving free- 
dom to the slaves ; and Toussaint joined it on its arrival 
in the island, and fought bravely against the planters. 

While the people of St. Domingo were thus fighting 

amongst themselves, the revolutionary movement in 

France had fallen into the hands of Robespierre and 

Dan ton, and the guillotine was beheading its thousands 

9 



98 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

daily. When the news of the death of Louis XVI. 
reached St. Domingo, Toussaint and his companions 
left the French, and joined the Spanish army in the 
eastern part of the island, and fought for the king of 
Spain. Here Toussaint was made brigadier general, 
and appeared in the field as the most determined foe 
of the French planters. 

The two armies met; a battle was fought in the 
streets, and many thousands were slain on both sides ; 
the planters, however, were defeated. During the 
conflict the city was set on fire, and on every side pre- 
sented shocking evidence of slaughter, conflagration, 
and pillage. The strifes of political and religious 
partisanship, which had raged in the clubs and streets 
of Paris, were transplanted to St. Domingo, where 
they raged with all the heat of a tropical clime and 
the animosities of a civil war. Truly did tho flames 
of the French revolution at Paris, and the ignorance 
and self-will of the planters, set the island of St. Do- 
mingo on fire. The commissioners, with their retinue, 
retired from the burning city into the neighboring 
highlands, where a camp was formed to protect the 
ruined town from the opposing party. Having no con- 
fidence in the planters, and fearing a reaction, the 
commissioners proclaimed a general emancipation to 
the slave population, and invited the blacks who had 
joined the Spaniards to return. Toussaint and his 
followers accepted the invitation, returned, and were 
enrolled in the army under the commissioners. Fresh 
troops arrived from France, who were no sooner in the 
island than they separated — some siding with the 
planters, and others with the commissioners. The 
white republicans of the mother country arrayed them- 



TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 99 

selves against the white republicans of St. Domingo, 
whom they were sent out to assist ; the blacks and 
the mulattoes were at war with each other ; old and 
young, of both sexes and of all colors, were put to 
the sword, while the fury of the flames swept from 
plantation to plantation and from town to town. 

During these sad commotions, Toussaint, by his 
superior knowledge of the character of his race, his 
humanity, generosity, and courage, had gained the 
confidence of all whom he had under his command. 
The rapidity with which he travelled from post to post 
astonished every one. By his genius and surpassing 
activity, Toussaint levied fresh forces, raised the repu- 
tation of the army, and drove the English and Spanish 
from the island. 

With the termination of this struggle every vestige 
of slavery and all obstacles to freedom disappeared. 
Toussaint exerted every nerve to make Hayti what it 
had formerly been. He did every thing in his power 
to promote agriculture ; and in this he succeeded be- 
yond the most sanguine expectations of the friends of 
freedom, both in England and France. Even the 
planters who had remained on the island acknowledged 
the prosperity of Hayti under the governorship of the 
man whose best days had been spent in slavery. 

The peace of Amiens left Bonaparte without a rival 
on the continent, and with a large and experienced 
army, which he feared to keep idle ; and he determined 
to send a part of it to St. Domingo. 

The army for the expedition to St. Domingo was 
fitted out, and no pains or expense spared to make it 
an imposing one. Fifty-six ships of war, with twenty- 
five thousand men, left France for Hayti. It was, 



100 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

indeed, the most valiant fleet that had ever sailed 
from the French dominions. The Alps, the Nile, the 
Rhine, and all Italy, had resounded with the exploits 
of the men who were now leaving their country for 
the purpose of placing the chains again on the limhs 
of the heroic people of St. Domingo. There were 
men in that army that had followed Bonaparte from 
the siege of Toulon to the hattle under the shades of 
the pyramids of Egypt — men who had grown gray in 
the camp, 

News of the intended invasion reached St. Domingo 
some days before the squadron had sailed from Brest ; 
and therefore the blacks had time to prepare to meet 
their enemies. Toussaint had. concentrated his forces 
at such points as he expected would be first attacked. 
Christophe was sent to defend Cape City, and Port-au- 
Prince was left in the hands of Dessalines. 

With no navy, and but little means of defence, the 
Haytians determined to destroy their towns rather 
than they should fall into the hands of the enemy. 
Late in the evening the French ships were seen to 
change their position, and Christophe, satisfied that 
they were about to effect a landing, set fire to his own 
house, which was the signal for the burning of the 
town. The French general wept as he beheld the 
ocean of flames rising from the tops of the houses in 
the finest city in St. Domingo. Another part of the 
fleet landed in Samana, where Toussaint, with an ex- 
perienced wing of the army, was ready to meet them. 
On seeing the ships enter the harbor, the heroic chief 
said, " Here come the enslavers of our race. Ail 
France is coming to St. Domingo, to try again to put 
the fetters upon our limbs ; but not France, with all 






TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. 101 

her troops of the Rhine, the Alps, the Nile, the Tiber, 
nor all Europe to help her, can extinguish the soul of 
Africa. That soul, when once the soul of a man, and 
no longer that of a slave, can overthrow the pyramids 
and the Alps themselves, sooner than again be crushed 
down into slavery." The French, however, effected a 
landing, but they found nothing but smouldering ru- 
ins, where once stood splendid cities. Toussaint and 
his generals at once abandoned the towns, and betook 
themselves to the mountains, those citadels of freedom 
in St. Domingo, where the blacks have always proved 
too much for the whites. 

Toussaint put forth a proclamation to the colored 
people, in which he said, " You are now to meet and 
fight enemies who have neither faith, law, nor religion. 
Let us resolve that these French troops shall never 
leave our shores alive." The war commenced, and 
the blacks were victorious in nearly all the battles. 
Where the French gained a victory, they put their 
prisoners to the most excruciating tortures ; in many 
instances burning them in pits, and throwing them 
into boiling caldrons. This example of cruelty set 
by the whites was followed by the blacks. Then it 
was that Dessalines, the ferocious chief, satisfied his 
long pent-up revenge against the white planters and 
French soldiers that he made prisoners. The French 
general saw that he could gain nothing from the blacks 
on the field of battle, and he determined upon a strata- 
gem, in which he succeeded too well. 

A correspondence was opened with Toussaint, in 

which the captain-general promised to acknowledge 

the liberty of the blacks and the equality of all, if he 

would yield. 'Overcome by the persuasions of his 

9* 



102 THE BLACK MAN's' GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

generals and the blacks who surrounded him, and 
who were sick and tired of the shedding of blood, 
Toussaint gave in his adhesion to the French authori- 
ties. This was the great error of his life. 

Vincent, in his " Reflections on the Present State 
of the Colony of St. Domingo" says, " Toussaint, at 
the head of his army, is the most active and indefati- 
gable man of whom we can form an idea ; we may 
say, with truth, that lie is found wherever instructions 
or danger render his presence necessary. The par- 
ticular care which he employs in his march, of always 
deceiving the men of whom lie has need, and who 
think they enjoy a confidence he gives to none, has 
such an effect that he is daily expected in all the chief 
places of the colony. His great sobriety, the faculty, 
which none but he possesses, of never reposing, the 
facility with which he resumes the affairs of the cab- 
inet after the most tiresome excursions, of answering 
daily a hundred letters, and of habitually tiring five 
secretaries, render him so superior to all those around 
him, that their respect and submission are in most 
individuals carried even to fanaticism. It is certain 
that no man, in the present times, has possessed such 
an influence over a mass of people as General Tous- 
saint possesses over his brethren in St. Domingo." 

The above is the opinion of an enemy — one who 
regarded the negro chief as a dangerous man to his 
interest. 

Invited by the captain-general of the island to attend 
a council, the black hero was treacherously seized and 
sent on board the ship of war Hero, which set sail at 
once for France. On the arrival of the illustrious 
prisoner at Brest, he was taken in a close carriage and 



TOUSSAINT i/OUVERTURE. 103" 

transferred to the castle of Joux, in the Lower Pyre- 
nees. The gelid atmosphere of the mountain region, 
the cold, damp dungeon in which he was placed, with 
the water dripping upon the floor day and night, did 
not hasten the death of Toussaint fast enough. By 
Napoleon's directions the prisoner's servant was taken 
from him, sufficient clothing and bedding to keep him 
warm were denied, his food curtailed, and his keeper, 
after an absence of four days, returned and found the 
hero of St. Domingo dead in his cell. Thus terminated 
the career of a self-made man. 

Toussaint was of prepossessing appearance, of mid- 
dle stature, and possessed an iron frame. His digni- 
fied, calm, and unaffected features, and broad and 
well-developed forehead, would cause him to be select- 
ed, in any company of men, as one born for a leader. 
Endowed by nature with high qualities of mind, he 
owed his elevation to his own energies and his devo- 
tion to the welfare and freedom of his race. His 
habits were thoughtful ; and like most men of ener- 
getic temperaments, he crowded much into what he 
said. So profound and original were his opinions, that 
they have been successively drawn upon by all the 
chiefs of St. Domingo since his era, and still without 
loss of adaptation to the circumstances of the country. 
The policy of his successors has been but a repetition 
of his plans, and his maxims are still the guidance of 
the rulers of Hayti. His thoughts were copious and 
full of vigor, and what he could express well in his 
native patois he found tame and unsatisfactory in the 
French language, which he was obliged to employ in 
the details of his official business. He would never 
sign what he did not fully understand, obliging two or 



104 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

three secretaries to re-word the document, until they 
had succeeded in furnishing the particular phrase ex- 
pressive of his meaning. While at the height of his 
power, and when all around him were furnished with 
every comfort, and his officers living in splendor, 
Toussaint himself lived with an austere sobriety which 
bordered on abstemiousness. He was entirely master 
of his own passions and appetites. It was his custom 
to set off in his carriage with the professed object of 
going to some particular point of the island, and when 
he had passed over several miles of the journey, to 
quit the carriage, which continued its route under the 
same escort of guards, while Toussaint, mounted on 
horseback and followed by his officers, made rapid 
excursions across the country, to places where he was 
least expected. It was upon one of these occasions 
that he owed his life to his singular mode of travel- 
ling. He had just left his carriage when an ambus- 
cade of mulattoes, concealed in the thickets of Bou- 
cassin, fired upon the guard, and several balls pierced 
the carriage, and one of them killed an old domestic 
who occupied the seat of his master. No person knew 
better than he the art of governing the people under 
his jurisdiction. The greater part of the population 
loved him to idolatry. Veneration for Toussaint was 
not confined to the boundaries of St. Domingo ; it ran 
through Europe ; and in France his name was fre- 
quently pronounced in the senate with the eulogy of 
polished eloquence. No one can look back upon his 
career without feeling that Toussaint was a remarka- 
ble man. Without being bred to the science of arms, 
he became a valiant soldier, and baffled the skill of the 
most experienced generals that had followed Napoleon. 



TOUSSAINT l/OUVERTURE. 10") 

Without military knowledge he fought like one born 
in the camp. Without means he carried on the war. 
He beat his enemies in battle, and turned their own 
weapons against them. He laid the foundation for 
the emancipation of his race and the independence 
of the island. From ignorance he became educated 
by his own exertions. From a slave he rose to be 
a soldier, a general, and a governor, and might 
have been king of St. Domingo. He possessed 
splendid traits of genius, which was developed in 
the private circle, in the council chamber, and on 
the field of battle. His very name became a tower 
of strength to his friends and a terror to his foes. 
Toussaint's career as a Christian, a statesman, and a 
general, will lose nothing by a comparison with that 
of Washington. Each was the leader of an oppressed 
and outraged people, each had a powerful enemy to 
contend with, and each succeeded in founding a gov- 
ernment in the new world. Toussaint's government 
made liberty its watchword, incorporated it in its con- 
stitution, abolished the slave trade, and made freedom 
universal amongst the people. Washington's govern- 
ment incorporated slavery and the slave trade, and 
enacted laws by which chains were fastened upon the 
limbs of millions of people. Toussaint liberated his 
countrymen ; Washington enslaved a portion of his. 
When impartial history shall do justice to the St. Do- 
mingo revolution, the name of Toussaint L'Ouverture 
will be placed high upon the roll of fame. 



106 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



CRISPUS ATTUCKS. 

The principle that taxation and representa.ion were 
inseparable was in accordance with the theory, the 
genius, and the precedents of British legislation-; and 
this principle was now, for the first time, intentionally 
invaded. The American colonies were not represented 
in Parliament ; yet an act was passed by that body, the 
tendency of which was to invalidate all right and title to 
their property. This was the " Stamp Act," of March 
23, 1765, which ordained that no sale, bond, note of 
hand, or other instrument of writing should be valid un- 
less executed on paper bearing the stamp prescribed by 
the home government. The intelligence of the passage 
of the stamp act at once roused the indignation of the 
liberty-loving portion of the people of the colonies, and 
meetings were held at various points to protest against 
this high-handed measure. Massachusetts was the first 
to take a stand in opposition to the mother country. 
The merchants and traders of Boston, New York, and 
Philadelphia entered into non-importation agreements, 
with a view of obtaining a repeal of the obnoxious law. 
Under the pressure of public sentiment, the stamp act 
officers gave in their resignations. The eloquence of 
William Pitt and the sagacity of Lord Camden brought 
about a repeal of the stamp act in the British Parlia- 
ment. A new ministry, in 1767, succeeded in getting 
through the House of Commons a bill to tax the tea 
imported into the American colonies, and it received 
the royal assent. Massachusetts again took the lead in 
opposing thfi execution of this last act, and Boston be- 



CRISPUS ATTUCKS. 107 

gan planning to take the most conspicuous part in the 
great drama. The agitation in the colonies provoked 
the home government, and power was given to the 
governor of Massachusetts to take notice of all persons 
who might offer any treasonable objections to these op- 
pressive enactments, that the same might be sent home 
to England to be tried there. Lord North was now at 
the head of affairs, and no leniency was to be shown to 
the colonies. The concentration of British troops in 
large numbers at Boston convinced the people that 
their liberties were at stake, and they began to rally. 
A crowded and enthusiastic meeting, held in Boston in 
the latter part of the year 1769, was addressed by the 
ablest talent that the progressive element could pro- 
duce. Standing in the back part of the hall, eagerly 
listening to the speakers, was a dark mulatto man, very 
tall, rather good looking, and apparently about fifty 
years of age. This was Crispus Attacks. Though taking 
no part in the meeting, he was nevertheless destined 
to be conspicuous in the first struggle in throwing off 
the British yoke. Twenty years previous to this, At- 
tucks was the slave of William Brouno, Esq., of Fra- 
mingham, Mass. ; but his was a heart beating for free- 
dom, and not to be kept in the chains of mental or 
bodily servitude. . 

From the Boston Gazette of Tuesday, November 20, 
1750, now in the possession of William C. Nell, Esq., I 
copy the following advertisement : — 

" Ran away from his master William Brouno Fra- 
mingham, on the 30th of Sept., last, a Molatto Fellow, 
about 27 years of Age named Crispus, well set, six feet 
2 inches high, short curl'd Hair, knees nearer together 
than common ; had on a light coloured Bearskin Coat, 



108 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS, 

brown Fustian jacket, new Buckskin Breeches, blew 
yarn Stockins and Checkered Shirt. Whoever shall 
take up said Run-away, and convey him to his above 
said Master at Framing-ham, shall have Ten Pounds, 
old Tenor Reward and all necessary Charges paid." 

The above is a verbatim et literatim advertisement 
for a runaway slave one hundred and twelve years 
ago. Whether Mr. Brouno succeeded in recapturing 
Crispus or not, we are left in the dark. 

Ill-feeling between the mother country and her colo- 
nial subjects had been gaining ground, while British 
troops were concentrating at Boston. On the 5th of 
March, 1770, the people were seen early congregating 
at the corners of the principal streets, at Dock Square, 
and near the custom house. Captain Preston, with a 
body of redcoats, started out for the purpose of keep- 
ing order in the disaffected town, and was hissed at by 
the crowds in nearly every place where he appeared. 
The day passed off without any outward manifestation 
of disturbance, but all seemed to feel that something 
would take place after nightfall. The doubling of the 
guard in and about the custom house showed that 
the authorities felt an insecurity that they did not care 
to express. The lamps in Dock Square threw their 
light in .the angry faces of a large crowd who appeared 
to be waiting for the crisis, in whatever form it should 
come. A part of Captain Preston's company was mak- 
ing its way from the custom house, when they were met 
by the crowd from Dock Square, headed by the black 
man Attucks, who was urging them to meet the red- 
coats, and drive them from the streets. " These rebels 
have no business here," said he ; " let's drive them 
away." The people became enthusiastic, their bravo 



CRISPUS ATTUCKS. 109 

leader grew more daring in his language and attitude, 
while the soldiers under Captain Preston appeared to 
give way. " Come on ! don't be afraid ! " cried At- 
tucks. " They dare not shoot ; "and if they dare, let 
them do it." Stones and sticks, with which the popu- 
lace was armed, were freely used, to the great discom- 
fiture of the English soldiers. " Don't hesitate ! come 
on ! We'll drive these rebels out of Boston," were the 
last words heard from the lips of the colored man, for 
the sharp crack of muskets silenced his voice, and he 
fell weltering in his blood. Two balls had pierced his 
sable breast. Thus died Crispus Attucks, the first 
martyr to American liberty, and the inaugurator of the 
revolution that was destined to take from the crown 
.of George the Third its brightest star. An immense 
concourse of citizens followed the remains of the hero 
to its last resting place, and his name was honorably 
mentioned in the best circles. The last words, the 
daring, and the death of Attucks gave spirit and en- 
thusiasm to the revolution, and his heroism was imi- 
tated by both whites and blacks. His name was a 
rallying cry for the brave colored men who fought at 
the battle of Bunker's Hill. In the gallant defence of 
Redbank, where four hundred blacks met and defeat- 
ed fifteen hundred Hessians headed by Count Donop, 
the thought of Attucks filled them with ardor. When 
Colonel Greene fell at Groton, surrounded by his black 
troops who perished with him, they went into the bat- 
tle feeling proud of the opportunity of imitating the 
first martyr of the American revolution. 

No monument has yet been erected to him. An 
effort was made- in the legislature of Massachusetts a 
few years since, but without success. Five generations 
10 



110 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

of accumulated prejudice against the negro had ex- 
cluded from the American mind all inclination to do 
justice to one of her bravest sons. When negro slavery 
shall be abolished in our land, then we may hope to 
see a monument raised to commemorate the heroism 
of Crispus Attucks. 



DE SSALINE S 



Jean Jacques Dessalines was a native of Africa. 
Brought to St. Domingo at the age of sixteen, he was 
sold to a black man named Dessalines, from whom he 
took his own. His master was a tiler or house-shin- 
gler, and the slave learned that trade, at which he 
worked until the breaking out of the revolution of 
1789, when he entered the army as a common soldier, 
under Toussaint. By his activity and singular fierce- 
ness on the field of battle, Dessalines attracted the 
attention of his general, who placed him among his 
guides and personal attendants ; and he was subse- 
quently rapidly advanced through several intermediate 
grades to the dignity of being the third in command. 
He was entirely ignorant of learning, as the utmost 
extent that he ever acquired was to sign his name. 
Dessalines was short in stature, but stout and muscu- 
lar. His complexion was a dingy black ; his eyes were 
prominent and scowling, and the lines of his features 
expressed the untamed ferocity of his character. He 
had a haughty and disdainful look. Hunger, thirst, 
fatigue, and loss of sleep he seemed made to endure as 
if by peculiarity of constitution. He bore upon his 



DESSALINES. Ill 

arms and breast the marks of his tribe. Inured by 
exposure and toil to a hard life, his frame possessed a 
wonderful power of endurance. He was a bold and 
turbulent spirit, whose barbarous eloquence lay in ex- 
pressive signs rather than in words. What is most 
strange in the history of Dessalines is, that he was a 
savage, a slave, a soldier, a general, and died, when an 
emperor, under the dagger of a Brutus. 

A more courageous man than he never lived. Fear- 
ing that his men, during the attack upon the fort at 
Crete-a-Pierrot, would surrender it, he seized a torch, 
held it to the door of the magazine, and threatened to 
blow up the fort, and himself with it, if they did not 
defend it. Nearly all historians have set him down as 
a bloodthirsty monster, who delighted in the suffer- 
ings of his fellow-creatures. They do not rightly con- 
sider the circumstances that surrounded him, and the 
foe that he had to deal with. 

Rochambeau, the commanding general, from the 
landing of Napoleon's expedition 10 the entire expul- 
sion of the French, was a hard-hearted slaveholder, 
many of whose years had been spent in St. Domingo, 
and who, from the moment that he landed with his 
forces, treated the colored men as the worst of barbari- 
ans and wild beasts. He imported bloodhounds from 
Cuba to hunt them down in the mountains. When 
caught, he had them thrown into burning pits and 
boiling caldrons. When he took prisoners, he put 
them to the most excruciating tortures and the most 
horrible deaths. His ferocious and sanguinary spirit 
was too much for the kind heart of Toussaint, or the 
gentlemanly bearing of Christophe. His only match 
was Dessalines. 



112 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIETEMENTS. 

In a battle near Cape Francois, Rochambeau took 
five hundred black prisoners, and put them all to death 
the same day. Dessalines, hearing of this, brought five 
hundred white prisoners in sight of the French, and 
hung them up, so that the cruel monster could see the 
result of his own barbarous example. 

Although Toussaint was away from the island, the 
war seemed to rage with greater fury than at any for- 
mer period. The blacks grew wild as they looked upon 
the flames ; they became conscious of their power and 
success ; gaining confidence and increasing their num- 
bers, all the pent-up feelings and hatred of years burst 
forth, and they pushed forward upon defenceless men, 
women, and children. The proud, haughty, and self- 
sufficient planter, who had been permitted, under the 
mild rule of Toussaint, to return and establish himself 
on his former estate, had to give way again to the ter- 
rible realities which came upon him. 

The fertile plains that were in the highest state of 
cultivation, the lively green of the sugar-cane that 
filled the landscape through boundless fields, and the 
plantations of indigo and coffee, with all their beauti- 
ful hues of vegetation, were destroyed by the flames 
and smoke which spread every where. Dessalines was 
the commander-in-chief in fact, though he shared the 
name with Christophe and Clervaux. Forty thousand 
French troops had already perished by yellow fever 
and the sword. Leclerc, the captain-general of the 
island, lay sick, the hospitals were filled, and the 
blacks had possession of nearly all the towns. 

Twenty thousand fresh troops arrived from France, 
but they were not destined to see Leclerc, for the yel- 
low fever had taken him off. In the mountains were 



DESSALINES. 113 

many barbarous and wild blacks, who had escaped 
from slavery soon after being brought from the coast 
of Africa. One of these bands of savages was com- 
manded by Lamour de Ranee, an adroit, stern, savage 
man, half naked, with epaulets tied to his bare shoul- 
ders for his only token of authority. This man had 
been brought from the coast of Africa, and sold as a 
slave in Port au Prince. On being ordered one day to 
saddle his master's horse, he did so, then mounted the 
animal, fled to the mountains, and ever after made 
those fearful regions his home. Lamour passed from 
mountain to mountain with something of the ease of 
the birds of his own native land. Toussaint, Chris- 
tophe, and Dessalines, had each in their turn pursued 
him, but in vain. His mode of fighting was in keeping 
with his dress. This savage united with others like 
himself, and became complete master of the wilds of 
St. Domingo. They came forth from their mountain 
homes, and made war on the whites wherever they found 
them. Rochambeau, surrounded on all sides, drew 
his army together for defence rather than aggression. 
Reduced to the last extremity by starvation, the French 
general sued for peace, and promised that he would 
immediately leave the island. It was accepted by the 
blacks, and Rochambeau prepared to return to France. 
The French embarked in their vessels of war, and the 
standard of the blacks once more waved over Cape 
City, the capital of St. Domingo. As the French sailed 
from the island, they saw the tops of the mountains 
lighted up. It was not a blaze kindled for war, but 
for freedom. Every heart beat for liberty, and every 
voice shouted for joy. From the ocean to the moun- 
tains, and from town to town, the cry was, Freedom ! 
10* 



114 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Freedom ! Thus ended Napoleon's expedition to St. 
Domingo. In less than two years the French lost 
more than fifty thousand persons. After the retire- 
ment of the whites, the men of color put forth a 
Declaration of Independence, in which they said, 
" We have sworn to show no mercy to those who may 
dare to speak to us of slavery." 

The bravery and military skill which Dessalines had 
exhibited after the capture of Toussaint, the bold, 
resolute manner in which he had expelled the whites 
from the island, naturally pointed him out as the 
future ruler of St. Domingo. After serving a short 
time as president, Dessalines assumed the dignity of 
emperor, and changed the name of the island to that 
of Hayti. 

The population of Hayti had been very much 
thinned by the ravages of war, and Dessalines, for the 
purpose of aiding those of his race, who had been 
taken away by force, to return, offered large rewards 
to captains of vessels for any that they might bring 
back as passengers. 

One of the charges against Dessalines is based upon 
the fact that he changed his government from a repub- 
lic to an empire. But we must consider that the peo- 
ple of Hayti had always lived under a monarchy, and 
were wedded to that kind of government. Had 
Toussaint allowed himself to be made a king, his 
power would have been recognized by Great Britain, 
and he would never have yielded to the solicitations 
of Leclerc, when that general's fleet landed on the 
island. Napoleon had just been crowned emperor of 
France, and it was not at all surprising that Dessalines 
should feel inclined to imitate the conqueror of Egypt. 



DESS ALINES. 115 

The empire of Hayti was composed of six military 
divisions, each to be under the command of a general 
officer, who was independent of his associates who 
governed in other districts, as he was responsible to 
the head of the state alone. The supremo power was 
formally conferred upon Jean Jacques Dessalines, the 
avenger and liberator of his countrymen, who was to 
take the title of Emperor and Commander-in-chief of 
the Army, and to be addressed by the appellation of 
His Majesty — a dignity which was also conferred upon 
the empress, his wife, and the persons of both were 
declared inviolable. The crown was elective, but the 
power was conferred upon the reigning emperor to 
select and appoint his successor, by a nomination which 
required the sanction of the people to give it validity. 
The emperor was empowered to make the laws to gov- 
ern the empire, and to promulgate them under his 
seal ; to appoint all the functionaries of the state, and 
remove them at his will ; to hold the purse of the 
nation ; to make peace and war, and in all things to 
exercise the rights and privileges of an absolute sov- 
ereign. The monarch was assisted in wielding this 
mighty authority by a council of state, composed of 
generals of division and brigade. No peculiar faith 
in religion was established by law, and toleration was 
extended to the doctrines and worship of all sects. 
Surrounded by all the luxuries that wealth could 
procure, he was distinguished for the Roman virtues 
of abstinence and energy. Scorning effeminacy, he 
seemed ambitious to inure himself to the most labo- 
rious exercise and to the simplest mode of living. 
Dessalines was well schooled in the toils and labors of 
the camp. As his life was made up of extremes, so in 



116 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

his habits and personal endurances were seen great 
contrasts. Impetuosity and rapid movement were 
among his chief characteristics. He prided himself on 
his being'able to surprise his enemies and taking them 
unprepared. Indeed, this was a leading trait in his 
military character, and places him alongside of Napo- 
leon, or any other general, ancient or modern. As 
time smooths over his footsteps, and wears out the 
blood that marked his course, the circumstances at- 
tending it will, no doubt, be made to extenuate some 
of his many faults, and magnify his virtues as a gen- 
eral, a ruler, and a man. 

The empress was a woman of rare beauty, and had 
some education, talent, and refinement. Her human- 
ity caused her to restrain her husband, upon many 
occasions, from acts of cruelty. Though uneducated, 
Dessalines was not ignorant even of the classics, for he 
kept three secretaries, who, by turns, read to him. 

As soon as he came into power, the emperor exerted 
every nerve to fortify the island, and to make it strong 
in the time of need. Much has been said of the cru- 
elty of this man, and far be it from me to apologize 
for his acts. Yet, to judge rightly of him, we must 
remember that he had an ignorant people to govern, 
on the one hand, and the former planters to watch 
and control on the other. This latter class was scat- 
tered all over Europe and the United States, and they 
lost no opportunity to poison the minds of the whites 
against Dessalines and his government. He discovered 
many plots of the old white planters to assassinate 
him, and this drew out the ferociousness of his dispo- 
sition, and made him cruel in the extreme. That he 
caused the death of innocent persons, there is not the 



DESSALINES. ^ 117 

slightest doubt ; but that such a man as he was needed 
at the time, all must admit. Had Dessalines been in 
the place of Toussaint, he would never have been 
transferred from Hayti to France. Unlimited power, 
conferred upon him, together with the opposition of 
the whites in all countries, made him cruel even to 
his own race, and they looked forward with a degree 
of hope to his removal. The mulattoes, against whom 
he had never ceased to war, were ever watchful for an 
opportunity to take his life. A secret conspiracy was 
accordingly planned by this class, and on the 17th of 
October, 1806, while Dessalines was on a journey from 
St. Marks to Port au Prince, a party in ambuscade 
fired at him, and he fell dead. 

Hayti had much improved under his management, 
especially in agriculture. The towns, many of them, 
had been rebuilt, commerce extended, and the arts 
patronized. Military talents have been ascribed to 
Dessalines even superior to Toussaint. He certainly 
had great courage, but upon the battle field it seemed 
to be the headlong fury of the tiger rather than the 
calm deliberation of L'Ouverture. Of all the heroic 
men which the boiling caldron of the St. Domingo 
revolution threw upon its surface, for the purpose of 
meeting the tyrannical whites, of bringing down upon 
them terrible retribution for their long and cruel 
reign, and of vindicating the rights of the oppressed 
in that unfortunate island, the foremost place belongs 
to the African, the savage, the soldier, the general, 
the president, and lastly the emperor Jean Jacques 
Dessalines. 



118 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



IRA ALDRIDGE. 

On looking over the columns of The Times, one 
morning, I saw it announced under the head of 
" Amusements," that " Ira Aldridge, the African 
Roscius," was to appear in the character of Othello, 
in Shakspeare's celebrated tragedy of that name, and, 
having long wished to see my sable countryman, I 
resolved at once to attend. Though the doors had 
been open but a short time when I reached the Royal 
Haymarket, the theatre where the performance was to 
take place, the house was well filled, and among the 
audience I recognized the faces of several distin- 
guished persons of the nobility, the most noted of 
whom was Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, the renowned 
novelist — his figure neat, trim, hair done up in the la- 
test fashion — looking as if he had just come out of a 
band-box. He is a great lover of the drama, and has 
a private theatre at one of his country seats, to which 
he often invites his friends, and presses them into the 
different characters. 

As the time approached for the curtain to rise, it was 
evident that the house was to be "jammed." Stuart, 
the best Iago since the days of Young, in company 
with Roderigo, came upon the stage as soon as the 
green curtain went up. Iago looked the villain, and 
acted it to the highest conception of the character. 
The scene is changed, all eyes are turned to the right 
door, and thunders of applause greet the appearance 
of Othello. Mr. Aldridge is of the middle size, and 
appeared to be about three quarters African ; has a 



IRA ALDRIDGE. 119 

pleasant countenance, frame well knit, and seemed to 
me the best Othello that I had ever seen. As Iago 
began to work upon his feelings, the Moor's eyes 
flashed fire, and, further on in the play, he looked the 
very demon of despair. When he seized the deceiver 
by the throat, and exclaimed, " Villain ! be sure thou 
prove my love false : be sure of it — give me the ocu- 
lar proof — or, by the worth of my eternal soul, thou 
hadst better have been born a dog, Iago, than answer 
my waked wrath," the audience, with one impulse, 
rose to their feet amid the wildest enthusiasm. At 
the end of the third act, Othello was called before the 
curtain, and received the applause of the delighted 
multitude. I watched the countenance and every 
motion of Bulwer Lytton with almost as much inter- 
est as I did that of the Moor of Venice, and saw that 
none appeared to be better pleased than he. The fol- 
lowing evening I went to witness his Hamlet, and was 
surprised to find him as perfect in that as he had been 
in Othello ; for I had been led to believe that the latter 
was his greatest character. The whole court of Den- 
mark was before us ; but till the words, " 'Tis not 
alone my inky cloak, good mother," fell from the lips 
of Mr. Aldridge, was the general ear charmed, or the 
general tongue arrested. The voice was so low, and 
sad, and sweet, the modulation so tender, the dignity 
so natural, the grace so consummate, that all yielded 
themselves silently to the delicious enchantment. 
When Horatio told him that he had come to see his 
father's funeral, the deep melancholy that took pos- 
session of his face showed the great dramatic power 
of Mr. Aldridge. " I pray thee do not mock me, fellow- 
student," seemed to come from his inmost soul. The 



120 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

animation with which his countenance was lighted up, 
during Horatio's recital of the visits that the ghost 
had paid him and his companions, was beyond de- 
scription. "Angels and ministers of grace defend us," 
as the ghost appeared in the fourth scene, sent a thrill 
through the whole assembly. His rendering of the 
" Soliloquy on Death," which Edmund Kean, Charles 
Kemble, and William C. Macready have reaped such 
unfading laurels from, was one of his best efforts. He 
read it infinitely better than Charles Kean, whom I 
had heard at the " Princess," but a few nights pre- 
vious. The vigorous starts of thought, which in the 
midst of his personal sorrows rise witli such beautiful 
and striking suddenness from the ever-wakeful mind 
of the humanitarian philosopher, are delivered with 
that varying emphasis that characterizes the truthful 
delineator, when he exclaims, " Frailty, thy name is 
woman ! " In the second scene of the second act, 
when revealing to Guildenstern the melancholy which 
preys upon his mind, the beautiful and powerful words 
in which Hamlet explains his feelings are made very 
effective in Mr. Aldridge's rendering : " This most 
excellent canopy, the air, the brave o'erhanging fir- 
mament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire 
.... What a piece of work is a man ! How noble 
in reason ! how infinite in faculties ! in form and mov- 
ing how express and admirable ! in action how like an 
angel ! in apprehension how like a God ! " In the last 
scene of the second act, when Hamlet's imagination, 
influenced by the interview with the actors, suggests 
to his rich mind so many eloquent reflections, Mr. 
A Id ridge enters fully into the spirit of the scene, 
warms up, and when he exclaims, " He would drown 



IRA ALDRIDGE. 121 

the stage with tears, and cleave the general ear with 
horrid speech, — make mad the guilty, and appall the 
free," he is very effective ; and when this warmth 
mounts into a paroxysm of rage, and he calls the 
King "Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treach- 
erous, lecherous, kindless villain ! " he sweeps the 
audience with him, and brings down deserved ap- 
plause. The fervent soul and restless imagination, 
which are ever stirring at the bottom of the fountain, 
and sending bright bubbles to the top, find a glowing 
reflection on the animated surface of Mr. Aldridge's 
colored face. I thought Hamlet one of his best 
characters, though I saw him afterwards in several 
others. 

Mr. Aldridge is a native of Senegal, in Africa. His 
forefathers were princes of the Foulah tribe, whose 
dominions were in Senegal, on the banks of the river 
of that name, on the west coast of Africa. To this 
shore one of our early missionaries found his way, 
and took charge of Ira's father, Daniel Aldridge, in 
order to qualify him for the work of civilizing and 
evangelizing his countrymen. Daniel's father, the 
reigning prince, was more enlightened than his sub- 
jects, probably through the instruction of the mission 
ary, and proposed that his prisoners taken in battle 
should be exchanged, and not, as was the custom, sold 
as slaves. This wish interfered with the notions and 
perquisites of his tribe, especially his principal chiefs ; 
and a civil war raged among the people. During 
these differences, Daniel, then a promising youth, was 
brought to the United States by the missionary, and 
sent to Schenectady College to receive the advantages 
of a Christian education. Three days after his de- 
ll 



122 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

parture, the revolutionary storm, which was brewing, 
broke out openly, and the reigning prince, the advo- 
cate of humanity, was killed. 

Daniel Aldridge remained in America till the death 
of the rebellious chief, who had headed the conspiracy, 
and reigned instead of the murdered prince. During 
the interval, Daniel had become a minister of the 
gospel, and was regarded by all classes as a man of 
uncommon abilities. He was, however, desirous to 
establish himself at the head of his tribe, possess him- 
self of his birthright, and advance the cause of Chris- 
tianity among his countrymen. For this purpose he 
returned to his native country, taking with him a 
young wife, one of his own color, whom he had but 
just married in America. Daniel no sooner appeared 
among the people of his slaughtered father, than old 
disagreements revived, civil war broke out, the en- 
lightened African was defeated, barely escaping from 
the scene of strife with his life, and for some time 
unable to quit the country, which was watched by 
numerous enemies anxious for his capture. Nine 
years elapsed before the proscribed family escaped to 
America, during the whole of which time they were 
concealed in the neighborhood of their foes, enduring 
vicissitudes and hardships that can well be imagined, 
but need not be described. 

Ira Aldridge was born soon after his father's arrival 
in Senegal, and on their return to America, was 
intended by the latter for the church. Many a white 
parent has " chalked out" in vain for his son a similar 
calling, and the best intentions have been thwarted by 
an early predilection quite in an opposite direction. 
We can well account for the father's choice in this 



IRA ALDRIDGE. 123 

instance, as in keeping with his own aspirations ; and 
we can easily imagine his disappointment upon aban- 
doning all hope of seeing one of his blood and color 
following specially in the service of his great Master. 
The son, however, began betimes to show his early 
preference and ultimate passion. At school he was 
awarded prizes for declamation, in which he excelled ; 
and there his curiosity was excited by what he heard 
of theatrical representations, which he was told em- 
bodied all the fine ideas shadowed forth in the lan- 
guage he read and committed to memory. It became 
the wish of his heart to witness one of these perform- 
ances, and that wish he soon contrived to gratify, and 
finally he became a candidate for histrionic fame. 

Notwithstanding the progress Ira had made in learn- 
ing, no qualities of the mind could compensate, in the 
eyes of the Americans, for the dark hue of his skin. 
The prevailing prejudice, so strong among all classes, 
was against him. This induced his removal to Eng- 
land, where he entered at the Glasgow University, 
and, under Professor Sandford, obtained several pre- 
miums, and the medal for Latin composition. 

On leaving college, Mr. Aldridge at once com- 
menced preparing for the stage, and shortly after 
appeared in a number of Shaksperian characters, in 
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, and other provin- 
cial cities, and soon after appeared on the boards of 
Drury Lane and Covent Garden, where he was 
stamped the "African Roscius." The London Weekly 
Times said of him, " Mr. Ira Aldridge is a dark mu- 
latto, with woolly hair. His features are capable of 
great expression, his action is unrestrained and pictu- 
resque, and his voice clear, full, and resonant. His 



12-1 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

powers of energetic declamation are very marked, and 
the whole of his acting appears impulsed by a current 
of feeling of no inconsiderable weight and vigor, yet 
controlled and imided in a manner that clearlv shows 
the actor to be a person of much study and great 
stage ability." The Morning; Chronicle recorded his 
" Shylock" as among the " finest pieces of acting that 
a London audience had witnessed since the days of 
the elder Kean." 



JOSEPH CINQUE. 

In the month of August, 1839, there appeared in 
the newspapers a shocking story — that a schooner, 
going coastwise from Havana to Neuvitas, in the island 
of Cuba, early in July, with about twenty white pas- 
sengers, and a large number of slaves, had been seized 
by the slaves in the night time, and the passengers and 
crew all murdered except two, who made their escape 
to land in an open boat. About the 20th of the same 
month, a strange craft was seen repeatedly on our 
coast, which was believed to be the captured Spanish 
coaster, in the possession of the negroes. She was 
spoken by several pilot-boats and other vessels, and 
partially supplied with water, of which she was very 
much in want. It was also said that the blacks ap- 
peared to have a great deal of money. The custom- 
house department and the officers of the navy were in- 
stantly roused to go in pursuit of the " pirates," as the 
unknown possessors of the schooner were spontaneously 
called. The United States steamer Fulton, and several 



JOSEPH CINQUE. 125 

revenue cutters were despatched, and notice given to 
the collectors at the various seaports. On the 10th of 
August, the "mysterious schooner" was near the shore 
at Culloden Point, on the east end of Long Island, 
where a part of the crew came on shore for water and 
fresh provisions, for which they paid with undiscrimi- 
nating profuseness. Here they were met by Captain 
Green and another gentleman, who stated that they 
had in their possession a large box filled witli gold. 
Shortly after, on the 20th, the- vessel was espied by 
Captain Gedney, U. S. N., in command of the brig- 
Washington, employed on the coast survey, who de- 
spatched an officer to board her. The officer found a 
large number of negroes, and two Spaniards, Pedro 
Montez and Jose Ruiz, one of whom immediately an- 
nounced himself as the owner of the negroes, and 
claimed his protection. The schooner was thereupon 
taken possession of by Captain Gedney. 

The leader of the blacks was pointed out by the 
Spaniards, and his name given as Joseph Cinque. He 
was a native of Africa, and one of the finest speci- 
mens of his race ever seen in this country. As soon 
as he saw that the vessel was in the hands of others, 
and all hope of his taking himself and countrymen 
back to their home land at an end, he leaped over- 
board with the agility of an antelope. The small boat 
was immediately sent after him, and for two hours did 
the sailors strive to capture him before they succeeded. 
Cinque swam and dived like an otter, first upon his 
back, then upon his breast, sometimes his head out 
of water, and sometimes his heels out. His country- 
men on board the captured schooner seemed much 
amused at the chase, for they knew Cinque well, and 
11* 



126 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

felt proud of the untamableness of his nature. After 
baffling them for a time, he swam towards the ves- 
sel, was taken on board, and secured with the rest of 
the blacVa, 'ind they were taken into New London, 
Connecticut. 

The schooner proved to be the "Amistad," Captain 
Eamon Ferrer, from Havana, bound to Principe, about 
one hundred leagues distant, with fifty-four negroes 
held as slaves, and two passengers instead of twenty. 
The Spaniards said that, after being out four days, the 
negroes rose in the night, and killed the captain and a 
mulatto cook ; that the helmsman and another sailor 
took to the boat and went on shore ; that the only two 
whites remaining were the said passengers, Montez and 
Ruiz, who were confined below until morning ; that 
Montez, the elder, who had been a sea captain, was 
required to steer the ship for Africa ; that he steered 
eastwardly in the day time, because the negroes could 
tell his course by the sun, but put the vessel about in 
the night. They boxed about some days in the Ba- 
hama Channel, and were several times near the islands, 
but the negroes would not allow her to enter any port. 
Once they were near Long Island, but then put out to 
sea again, the Spaniards all the while hoping they might 
fall in with some ship of war that would rescue them 
from their awkward situation. One of the Spaniards 
testified that, when the rising took place, he was awaked 
by the noise, and that he heard the captain order the 
cabin boy to get some bread and throw to the negroes, 
in hope to pacify them. Cinque, however, the leader 
of the revolt, leaped on deck, seized a capstan bar, and 
attacked the captain, whom he killed at a single blow, 
and took charge of the vessel ; his authority being ac- 



JOSEPH CINQUE. 127 

knowleclged by his companions, who knew him. as a 
prince in his native land. 

The captives were taken before the Circuit Court 
of the United States for the District of Connecticut, 
Hon. Andrew T. Judson presiding. This was only 
the commencement in the courts, for the trial ran 
through several months. During this time, the Afri- 
cans were provided with competent teachers by the 
abolitionists, and their minds were undergoing a rapid 
change, and civilization was taking the place of igno- 
rance and barbarism. 

Cinque, all this while, did nothing to change the 
high opinion first formed of him, and all those who 
came into his presence felt themselves before a su- 
perior man. After he and his countrymen had em- 
braced Christianity, and were being questioned by a 
peace man as to the part that they had taken in 
the death of the men on board the Amistad, when 
asked if they did not think it wrong to take human 
life, one of the Africans replied that, if it was to be 
acted over again, he would pray for them instead of 
killing them. Cinque, hearing this, smiled and shook 
his head, whereupon he was asked if he would not 
pray for them also. To this he said, " Yes, I would 
pray for 'em, an' kill 'em too." 

By the sagacity and daring of this man, he and his 
companions, fifty-four in number, were rescued from a 
life-long bondage of the worst character that ever 
afflicted the human family. 

Cinque was a man of great intelligence and natural 
ability; he was a powerful orator, and although speak- 
ing in a tongue foreign to his audience, by the grace 
and energy of his motions and attitudes, the changeful 



128 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

expression of his features, and the intonations of his 
voice, made them understand the main incidents of 
his narrative, and swayed their minds in an extraordi- 
nary manner. Alluding to that point of his history at 
which Cinque described how, when on board the Span- 
ish vessel, he, with the help of a nail, first relieved him- 
self of his manacles, then assisted his countrymen to 
get rid of theirs, and then led them to the attack of 
the Spaniards, Lewis Tappan, in the account of the 
whole proceedings connected with the Amistad cap- 
tives, which he published, says, " It is not in my 
power to give an adequate description of Cinque when 
he showed how he did this, and led his comrades to 
the conflict, and achieved their freedom. In my 
younger years I have seen Kemble and Siddons, and 
the representation of ' Othello,' at Covent Garden ; 
but no acting that I have ever witnessed came near 
that to which I allude." 



ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 

I had been in Paris a week without seeing Dumas, 
for my letter of introduction from Louis Blanc, who 
was then in exile in England, to M. Eugene Sue, had 
availed me nothing as regarded a sight of the great 
colored author. Sue had promised me that I should 
have an interview with Dumas before I quitted the 
French capital ; but I had begun to suspect that the 
latter felt that it would be too much of a condescension 
to give audience to an American slave, and I began to 
grow indifferent myself upon the matter. , Invited by 



ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 129 

a friend to attend the opera, to witness the perform 
ances of Grisi and Mario, in Norma, I gladly accept- 
ed, and In company with my friend started for the 
place of amusement. Our scats were " reserved," and 
I took my place in the immense saloon before raising 
my eyes to view the vast audience which had already 
assembled. The splendid chandeliers, the hundreds 
of brilliant gas lights, the highly-colored drapery that 
hung its rich folds about the boxes and stalls, were in 
keeping with the magnificent diamonds, laces, and 
jewelry, that adorned the persons of the finest assem- 
bly that I had ever seen. In a double box nearly 
opposite to me, containing a party of six or eight, I 
noticed a light-complexioned mulatto, apparently about 
fifty years of age, — curly hair, full face, dressed in a 
black coat, white vest, white kids, — who seemed to be 
the centre of attraction, not only in his own circle, but 
in others. Those in the pit looked up, those in the 
gallery looked down, while curtains were drawn aside 
at other boxes and stalls to get a sight at the colored 
man. So recently from America, where caste was so 
injurious to my race, I began to think that it was his 
woolly head that attracted attention, when I was in- 
formed that the mulatto before me was no less a per- 
son than Alexandre Dumas. Every move, look, and 
gesture of the celebrated romancer were watched in 
the closest manner by the audience. Even Mario ap- 
peared to feel that his part on the stage was of less 
importance than that of the colored man in the royal 
box. M. Dumas' grandfather was the Marquis de la 
Pailleterie, a wealthy planter of St. Domingo, while 
his orandmother was a negress from Congo. Rains- 



130 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

ford makes honorable mention of the father of Dumas, 
in his Black Empire, as having served in the army in 
his own native island. Dumas' father served under 
Napoleon during the whole of his campaigns, and rose 
to high distinction. Once, when near Lisle, Dumas, 
with four men, attacked a post of fifty Austrians, 
killed six, and made sixteen prisoners. For a long 
time he commanded a legion of horse composed of 
blacks and mulattoes, who were the terror of their 
enemies. General Dumas was with the army which 
Napoleon sent over the Alps ; Napoleon crossed it in 
June, Marshal Macdonald in December. The latter 
sent Dumas to say it was impossible to pass in the 
winter, when great avalanches of snow were falling 
down, threatening to destroy the army. Napoleon's 
reply to the messenger was, " Go and tell Marshal Mac- 
donald, where one man can pass over, an army can pass 
over in single file. The order is not to be counter- 
manded." The order was obeyed, though at the cost 
of many lives. One of the generals that made the 
pass was the black General Dumas, who ascended the 
St. Bernard, which was defended by a number of for- 
tifications, took possession of the cannon, and imme- 
diately directed them against the enemy. At the 
conclusion of the wars, the father returned to his 
island home, and after his death, the son went to 
France destitute, where he obtained a situation as a 
writer. Here he cultivated his literary taste. His 
imaginative mind and unsurpassed energies began to 
develop themselves, which soon placed the young man 
in easy circumstances. Dumas is now sixty-three 
years of ago, and has been a writer for the press 



ALEXANDRE DUMAS. 131 

thirty-eight years. During this time he lias published 
more novels, plays, travels, and historical sketches 
than any other man that ever lived. It is well under- 
stood that he is not the author of all the works that 
appear under his name, but that young writers gain a 
living by working out the plots and situations that his 
fecund brain suggests. When the novel or the play is 
complete, Dumas gives it a revision, touches up the 
dialogue, dashes in here and there a spirited scene of 
his own, and then receives from the publisher an 
enormous sum. Undeniably a man of great genius, 
endowed with true fertility of imagination, and mas- 
terly power of expression, his influence has been 
great. 

Such is the vivacity of his descriptions, such the en- 
traiuement of his narrative, such the boldness of his in- 
vention, such the point of his dialogue, and the rapid- 
ity of his incidents, so matchless often the felicity and 
skill of particular passages, that he always inflames 
the interest of the reader to the end. You may be 
angry with him, but you will confess that he is the 
opposite of tedious. Certainly no writer fills a more 
prominent place in the literature of his country ; and 
none has exercised a more potent influence upon its 
recent development than this son of the negro general, 
Dumas. His novels are every where, and the enthusi- 
asm with which his dramatic pieces were received has 
been of the most flattering character. 



132 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



HENRI CHRISTOPHE. 

Henri Christophe was a native of the island of New 
Grenada, where he was born a slave. He went to St. 
Domingo at the age of eighteen, and was employed as 
maitre cVhotel in the principal cafe at Cape Francois. 
From strength of natnial genius, as well as from his 
occupying a station in life above the ordinary condition 
of his race, he acquired considerable knowledge of the 
prevailing manners and customs of the society of which 
he was a daily spectator. He was master of the French, 
English, and Spanish languages, and was thought to 
be the most polished gentleman of all of Toussaint's 
generals. Being six feet three inches in height, Chris- 
tophe made an imposing appearance on horseback, on 
the field of battle, in his uniform. He had a majestic 
carriage, and an eye full of fire ; and a braver man 
never lived. Though far inferior to Toussaint in vigor 
and originality of mind, he was much his superior in 
acquaintance with the customs and habits of the world, 
and appeared more dignified in his intercourse with 
society. 

After the breaking out of the revolution, Christophe 
joined the army under Toussaint, who soon discovered 
his good qualities, and made him his lieutenant ; from 
which position he was soon advanced to second in com- 
mand. It has been asserted that he was an abler mili- 
tary man than either Toussaint or Dessaliues. When 
Napoleon's expedition invaded St. Domingo, Leclerc, 
with the largest part of the squadron, came to anchor 
off Cape City, and summoned the place to surrender. 



HENRI CIIRISTOPHE. 133 

The reply which he received from Christophe was auch 
as to teach the captain-general what he had to expect 
in the subjugation of St. Domingo. " Go, tell your 
general that the French shall march here only over 
ashes, and that the ground shall burn beneath their 
feet," was the answer that Leclerc obtained in return 
to his command. The French general sent another 
messenger to Christophe, urging him to surrender, and 
promising the black chief a commission of high rank 
in the French army. But he found he had a man, and 
not a slave, to deal with. The exasperated Christophe 
sent back the heroic reply, " The decision of arms can 
admit you only into a city in ashes, and even on these 
ashes will I fight still." 

After Toussaint had been captured and sent to 
France, and Leclerc was disarming'the colored popu- 
lation, and the decree of the 80th of April for main- 
taining slavery in St. Domingo had been put forth, 
Christophe followed the oxample of Clervaux, and 
went over to the insurgents, and met and defeated 
Eochambeau in one of the hardest fought battles of the 
campaign. He soon after shut the French commander 
up in Cape Francois, where the latter remained like a 
tiger driven to his den. 

During the reign of Dessalines, Christophe lived 
partly retired, "biding his time ;" for although the for- 
mer had been made emperor, the latter was most be- 
loved by all classes. The death of the emperor at 
once opened a way for Christophe, for a provisional 
government was then constituted, and the latter was 
proclaimed the head of the state. This was a virtual 
revolution, and Christophe regarded himself, by the 
provisional appointment, as the chief of the army, to 
12 



134 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

govern ad interim, until a new government could be 
formed. But the mulattoes, who had long been in ob- 
scurity, rallied, got a majority in the convention, and 
elected Petion president of the republic of Hayti. 
Christophe collected together his adherents, and deter- 
mined to take by conquest what he thought he had a 
right to by succession, and, as he thought, by merit. 
Failing in this, he set up another government in the 
north, with Cape Francois as its capital. Christophe 
felt that his assumption of power was but a usurpation, 
and that, so long as his government remained in opera- 
tion without the formal sanction of the people, his rival 
at Port au Prince possessed immense advantage over 
him, inasmuch as he had been made the constituted 
head of the country by an observance of the forms of 
the constitution. ' To remedy this palpable defect, 
which weakened his authority, he resolved to frame 
another constitution, which would confirm him in the 
power he had taken, and furnish him with a legal ex- 
cuse for maintaining his present attitude. In accord- 
ance with this policy, he convoked another assembly at 
Cape Francois, composed of the generals of his army 
and the principal citizens of that province, and after a 
short session the legislators terminated their labors by 
adopting another constitution, dated upon the 17th of 
February, 1809. This new enactment declared all 
persons residing upon the territory of Hayti free citi- 
zens, and that the government was to be administered 
by a supreme magistrate, who was to take the title of 
president of the state and general-in-chief of the land 
and naval forces. Thus firmly seated, Christophe felt 
himself more powerful, and more secure from out- 
breaks. Nevertheless, he was not destined to hold 



HENRI CHRISTOPHE. 135 

peaceable possession of all the territory in liis district, 
for the inhabitants of many of the towns in the vicinity 
of Cape Francois openly threw off their allegiance, and 
proclaimed their' preference for the more legitimate 
government of Petion. The two presidents prepared 
for war, and Christophe opened the campaign by 
marching an immense army against Gonaives, which, 
in the month of June, 1807, he invested. Petion's 
troops were defeated, and, to save themselves from 
capture, escaped by sea to Port au Prince. The war 
continued three years, when a new competitor ap- 
peared in the person of Rigaud, the other mulatto 
general. Christophe now ceased for a while; but when 
he felt that the time had arrived he again renewed the 
war, and, in 1810, captured the Mole St. Nicholas, the 
strongest fort on the island. Becoming ambitious to 
be a monarch, Christophe called his council together, 
and on the 20th of March, 1811, the session closed by 
adopting a new frame, of government. The imperial 
constitution of 1805 was modified to form an heredita- 
ry monarchy in the north, and to place the crown of 
Hayti upon Christophe under the title of Henry the 
First. When he entered upon the kingly station that 
%ad been conferred upon him, his first act was to pro- 
mulgate an edict creating an hereditary nobility, as a 
natural support of his government. These dignitaries 
of the kingdom were taken mostly from the army, the 
chiefs who had fought under him in the struggle 
against the French, and consisted of two princes, seven 
dukes, twenty-two counts, thirty-five barons, and four- 
teen chevaliers. His coronation was the most magnifi- 
cent display ever witnessed out of Europe. To furnish 
himself with all the appointments correspondent to his 



136 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

royal dignity, he now began the erection of a palace, 
situated a few miles from the cape, upon which he had 
bestowed the historical name of Sans Souci. This pal- 
ace has the reputation of being the most splendid edi- 
fice in the West Indies. The rugged, mountainous 
region in the vicinity of his royal residence was 
changed from its original condition to form the gar- 
dens of the palace. Hills were levelled with the plain, 
deep ravines were filled up, and roads and passages 
were opened, leading in all directions from the royal 
dwelling. The halls and saloons of the palace were 
wrought with mahogany, the floors were laid with rich 
marble, and numerous jets-d'eau furnished coolness 
and a supply of pure water to the different apartments. 
Christophe held a levee on the Thursday evening of 
each week, which was attended by the most fashiona- 
ble of all classes, including the foreign ambassadors 
and consuls. The ceremonial observances were mod- 
elled after the drawing rooms at St. Cloud and St. 
James. Though of pure African blood, Christophe was 
not a jet black, his complexion being rather a dusky 
brown. His person had grown slightly corpulent, and 
his address was cold, polished, and graceful. He pos- 
sessed a certain air of native dignity that corresponded* 
well with his high official situation. The whites of all 
countries, and especially the English, formed a high 
opinion of his character. That part of the island 
which came within his rule had been well cultivated, 
his government out of debt, and commerce was in a 
flourishing condition. 

The removal of Napoleon from the throne of France 
once more gave to the French planters residing in the 
mother country hope of again possessing their estates. 



HENRI CHRISTOPHE. 187 

Amove was made in the court of Louis XYL'l. to 
send another expedition to Hayti, to bring the colony 
back to her allegiance. On learning this, Christophe 
issued a proclamation, in which he said, " If we love 
the blessings of peace, we fear not the fatigues and 
horrors of war. Let our implacable enemies, the 
French colonists, who for twenty years have never 
ceased from their projects for the reestablishment of 
slavery, and who have filled all the governments of the 
earth with their importunities, — let them put them- 
selves at the head of armies, and direct themselves 
against our country. They will be the first victims of 
our vengeance, and the soil of liberty will eagerly 
drink the blood of our oppressors. We will show to 
the nations of the earth what a warlike people can ac- 
complish, who are in arms for the best of causes — the 
defence of their homes, their wives, their children, 
their liberty, and their independence." 

A despatch was next sent to Christophe, in which he 
was threatened with an invasion by all the forces of 
combined Europe in case of his refusal to submit him- 
self to the will of France. This last threat, however, 
had no influence over the black monarch, for he felt 
that no European power would invade Hayti after the 
failure of the sixty thousand men sent out by Napo- 
leon. Nothing was attempted by the French, and the 
king of Hayti was left in possession of his government. 
In the month of August, 1820, Christophe was attacked, 
while at mass, with a paralytic disease, and was imme- 
diately conveyed to Sans Souci, where he remained an 
invalid until a revolt occurred among his subjects. 
He ordered his war-horse, his sword was brought, and 
lie attempted to mount his charger; but in vain. He 
12* 



138 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

gave up the attempt, retired to his chamber, locked 
the door, and the report of a pistol alarmed his at- 
tendants. They rushed in, but it was too late ; Henri 
Christophe was no more. 

Christophe's aims were great, and many of them 
good. He was not only the patron of the arts, but 
of industry ; and it gave him pleasure to see his coun- 
try recovering the ground lost in the revolution and 
the civil wars, and advancing in name and wealth. 
He promoted industry on the principles laid down 
by his predecessor, Toussaint. A busy population 
covered the land with marks of its labors. Rich 
crops of the most coveted produce of nature annually 
rewarded the toil of the husbandman. Christophe 
was also the patron of education ; and there are still 
on the island schools that were founded by him when 
king. In one respect he excelled Charlemagne, — he 
could write his own name; but that was all. He dic- 
tated letters and despatches, and was an admirable 
judge of the fitness and relevancy of words. He 
kept up a correspondence with Wilberforce and Clark- 
son, the English philanthropists, and both of these dis- 
tinguished men had a high opinion of him as a man, 
and a friend of his race. 



PHILLIS WHEATLEY. 

In the year 1761, when Boston had her slave mar- 
ket, and the descendants of the Pilgrims appeared to 
be the most pious and God-fearing people in the world, 
Mrs. John Wheatley went into the market one day, for 



PHILLIS WHEATLEY. 159 

the purpose of selecting and purchasing a girl for her 
own use. Among the group of children just imported 
from the African coast was a delicately built, rather 
good-looking child of seven or eight years, apparently 
suffering from the recent sea voyage and change of 
climate. Mrs. Wheatley's heart was touched at the 
interesting countenance and humble modesty of this 
little stranger. The lady bought the child, and she 
was named Phillis. Struck with the slave's uncom- 
mon brightness, the mistress determined to teach her 
to read, which she did with no difficulty. The child 
soon mastered the English language, with which she 
was totally unacquainted when she landed upon the 
American shores. Her school lessons were all per- 
fect, and she drank in the scriptural teachings as 
if by intuition. At the age of twelve, she could 
write letters and keep up a correspondence that 
would have done honor to one double her years. Mrs. 
"Wheatley, seeing her superior genius, no longer re- 
garded Phillis as a servant, but took her as a com- 
panion. It was not surprising that the slave girl 
should be an object of attraction, astonishment, and 
attention with the refined and highly cultivated so- 
ciety that weekly assembled in the drawing room of 
the Wheatleys. As Phillis grew up to womanhood, 
her progress and attainments kept pace with the prom- 
ise of her earlier years. She drew around her the 
best educated of the white ladies, and attracted the 
attention and notice of the literary characters of Bos- 
ton, who supplied her with books and encouraged the 
ripening of her intellectual powers. She studied the 
Latin tongue, and translated one of Ovid's tales, which 
was no sooner put in print in America, than it was 



140 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

republished in London, with eloquent commendations 
from the reviews. In 1773, a small volume of her 
poems, containing thirty-nine pieces, was published in 
London, and dedicated to the Countess of Huntingdon. 
The genuineness of this work was established in the 
first page of the volume, by a document signed by the 
governor of Massachusetts, the lieutenant-governor, 
her master, and fifteen of the most respectable and in- 
fluential citizens of Boston, who were acquainted with 
her talents and the circumstances of her life. Her 
constitution being naturally fragile, she was advised by 
her physician to take a sea voyage as the means of re- 
storing her declining health. 

Phillis was emancipated by her master at the age of 
twenty-one years, and sailed for England. On her ar- 
rival, she was received and admired in the first circles 
of London society; and it was at that time that her 
poems were collected and published in a volume, with 
a portrait and memoir of the authoress. Phillis re- 
turned to America, and married Dr. Peters, a man of 
her own color, and of considerable talents. Her health 
began rapidly to decline, and she died at the age of 
twenty-sis years, in 1780. Fortunately rescued from 
the fate that awaits the victims of the slave trade, this 
injured daughter of Africa had an opportunity of de- 
veloping the genius that God had given her, and of 
showing to the world the great wrong done to her 
race. The limited place allowed for this sketch will 
not permit of our giving more than one short poem 
from the pen of the gifted Phillis Wheatley. 



PHILLIS WHEATLEY. 141 

ON THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL. 

From dark abodes to fair ethereal light, 

The enraptured innocent has winged her flight ; 

On the kind bosom of eternal love 

She finds unknown beatitudes above. 

This know, ye parents, nor her loss deplore — 

She feels the iron hand of pain no more ; 

The dispensations of unerring grace 

Should turn your sorrows into grateful praise ; 

Let, then, no tears for her henceforward flow 

Nor suffer grief in this dark vale below. 

Her morning sun, which rose divinely bright, 
Was quickly mantled with the gloom of night; 
But hear, in heaven's best bowers, your child so fair, 
And learn to imitate her language there. 
Thou, Lord, whom I behold with glory crowned, 
By what sweet name, and in what tuneful sound, 
Wilt thou be praised ? Seraphic powers are faint 
Infinite love and majesty to paint. 
To thee let all their grateful voices raise, 
And saints and angels join their songs of praise 

Perfect in bliss, now from her heavenly home 
She looks, and, smiling, beckons you to come ; 
Why then, fond parents, why these fruitless groans ? 
Restrain your tears, and cease your plaintive moans. 
Freed from a world of sin, and snares, and pain, 
Why would ye wish your fair one back again ? 
Nay, bow resigned ; let hope your grief control, 
And check the rising tumult of the soul. 
Calm in the prosperous and the adverse day, 
Adore the God who gives and takes away ; 



142 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

See him in all, his holy name revere, 
Upright your actions, and your hearts sincere, 
Till, having sailed through life's tempestuous sea, 
And from its rocks and boisterous billows free, 
Yourselves, safe landed on the blissful shore, 
Shall join your nappy child to part no more. 



DENMARK VESEY. 

No class of persons in the world, who have the 
name of being free, are more sorely oppressed than 
the free colored people of the Southern States. Each 
state has its code of black laws, which are rigorously 
enforced, and the victim made to feel his degradation 
at all times and in all places. An undeveloped dis- 
content pervades the entire black population, bond 
and free, in all the slave states. Human bondage is 
ever fruitful of insurrection, wherever it exists, and 
under whatever circumstances it may be found. Ev- 
ery community the other side of "Dixon's Line " feels 
that it lives upon a volcano that is liable to burst out at 
any moment ; and all are watchful, and fearfully in 
earnest, in looking after the colored man's affairs, and 
inventing sterner enactments to keep him in subjec- 
tion. The most oppressive of all the states is South 
Carolina. In Charleston, free colored ladies are not 
allowed to wear veils about their faces in the streets, 
or in any public places. A violation of this law is 
visited with " thirty-wine lashes upon the bare back." 
The same is inflicted upon any free colored man who 
shall be seen upon the streets with a cigar in his mouth, 



DENMARK VESEY. 143 

or a walking stick in his hand. Both, when walking 
the streets, arc forbidden to take the inside of the 
pavement. Punishment of fine and imprisonment is 
laid upon any found out after the hour of nine at 
night. An extra tax is placed upon every member of 
a free colored family. While all these odious edicts 
were silently borne by the free colored people of 
Charleston in 1822 there was a suppressed feeling 
of indignation, mortification, and discontent, that was 
only appreciated by a few. Among the most dissatis- 
fied of the free blacks was Denmark Vesey, a man 
who had purchased his freedom in the year 1800, and 
since that time "had earned his living by his trade, 
being a carpenter and joiner. Having been employed 
on shipboard by his master, Captain Vesey, Denmark 
had seen a great deal of the world, and had acquired 
a large fund of information, and was regarded as a 
leading man among the blacks. He had studied the 
Scriptures, and never lost an opportunity pf showing 
that they were opposed to chattel-slavery. He spoke 
freely with the slaves upon the subject, and often 
with whites, where he found he could do so without 
risk to his own liberty. After resolving to incite the 
slaves to rebellion, he began taking into his confidence 
such persons as he could trust, and instructing them 
to gain adherents from among the more reliable of 
both bond and free. Peter Poyas, a slave of more 
than ordinary foresight and ability, was selected by 
Vesey as his lieutenant ; and to him was committed 
the arduous duty of arranging the motle of attack, and 
of acting as the military leader. 

" His plans showed some natural generalship ; he 
arranged the night attack ; he planned the enrolment 



144 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

of a mounted troop to scour the streets ; and he had a 
list of all the shops where arms and ammunition were 
kept for sale. He voluntarily undertook the manage- 
ment of the most difficult part of the enterprise, — the 
capture of the main guard-house, — and had pledged 
himself to advance alone and surprise the sentinel. 
He was said to have a magnetism in his eye, of which 
his confederates stood in great awe ; if he once got his 
eye upon a man, there was no resisting it." 

Gullah Jack, Tom Russell, and Ned Bennett. The 
last two were not less valuable than Peter Poyas ; for 
Tom was an ingenious mechanic, and made battle- 
axes, pikes, and other instruments of death, with 
which to carry on the war. All of the above were 
to be generals of brigades, and were let into all the 
secrets of the intended rising. It has long been the 
custom in Charleston for the country slaves to visit 
the city in great numbers on Sunday, and return to 
their homes in time to commence work on the follow- 
ing morning. It was therefore determined by Den- 
mark to have the rising take place on Sunday. The 
slaves of nearly every plantation in the vicinity were 
enlisted, and were to take part. 

" The details of the plan, however, were not rashly 
committed to the mass of the confederates ; they were 
known only to a few, and were finally to have been 
announced after the evening prayer-meeting on the 
appointed Sunday. But each leader had his own 
company enlisted, and his own work marked out. 
When the clock struck twelve, all were to move. 
Peter Poyas was to lead a party ordered to assemble 
at South Bay, and to be joined by a force from James's 
Island ; he was then to march up and seize the arsenal 



DENMARK VESEY. 145 

and guard-house opposite St. Michael's Church, and 
detach a sufficient number to cut off all white citizens 
who should appear at the alarm posts. A second body 
of negroes, from the country and the Neck, headed by 
Ned Bennett, was to assemble on the Neck and seize the 
arsenal there. A third was to meet at Governor Ben- 
nett's Mills, under command of Rolla, another leader, 
and, after putting the governor and intendant to death, 
to march through the city, or be posted at Cannon's 
Bridge, thus preventing the inhabitants of Cannons- 
borough from entering the city. A fourth, partly from 
the country and partly from the neighboring localities 
in the city, was to rendezvous on Gadsden's Wharf 
and attack the upper guard-house. A fifth, composed 
of country and Neck negroes, was to assemble at 
Bulkley's farm, two miles and a half from the city, 
seize the upper powder magazine, and then march 
down ; and a sixth was to assemble at Denmark 
Vesey's and obey his orders. A seventh detachment, 
under Gullah Jack, was to assemble in Boundary 
Street, at the head of King Street, to capture the arms 
of the Neck company of militia, and to take an ad- 
ditional supply from Mr. Duquercron's shop. The 
naval stores on Mey's Wharf were also to be attacked. 
Meanwhile a horse company, consisting of many dray- 
men, hostlers, and butcher boys, was to meet at Light- 
wood's Alley, and then scour the streets to prevent the 
whites from assembling. Every white man coming 
out of his own door was to be killed, and, if necessary, 
the city was to be fired in several places — slow match 
for this purpose having been purloined from the pub- 
lic arsenal and placed in an accessible position." 
The secret and plan of attack, however, were incau- 
•13 



146 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

tiously divulged to a slave named Devany, belonging 
to Colonel Prioleau, and he at once informed his mas- 
ter's family. The mayor, on getting possession of the 
facts, called the city council together for consultation. 
The investigation elicited nothing new, for the slaves 
persisted in their ignorance of the matter, and the 
authorities began to feel that they had been imposed 
upon by Devany and his informant, when another of 
the conspirators, being bribed, revealed what he knew. 
Arrests after arrests were made, and the Mayor's 
Court held daily examinations for weeks. After sev- 
eral weeks of incarceration, the accused, one hundred 
and twenty in number, were brought to trial : thirty- 
four were sentenced to transportation, twenty-seven 
acquitted by the court, twenty-five discharged without 
trial, and thirty-five condemned to death. With but 
two or three exceptions, all of the conspirators went 
to the gallows feeling that they had acted right, and 
died like men giving their lives for the cause of free- 
dom. A report of the trial, written soon after, says 
of Denmark Vesey, — 

" For several years before he disclosed his intentions 
to any one, he appears to have been constantly and 
assiduously engaged in endeavoring to embitter the 
minds of the colored population against the white. 
He rendered himself perfectly familiar with all those 
parts of the Scriptures which he thought he could pervert 
to his purpose, and would readily quote them to prove 
that slavery was contrary to the laws of God, — that 
slaves were bound to attempt their emancipation, how- 
ever shocking and bloody might be the consequences, 
— and that such efforts would not only be pleasing to 
the Almighty, but were absolutely enjoined, and their 



DENMARK VESEY. 147 

success predicted, in the Scriptures. His favorite 
texts, when he addressed those of his own color, were 
Zechariah xiv. 1-3, and Joshua vi. 21 ; and in all his 
conversations he identified their situation with that 
.of the Israelites. The number of inflammatory pam- 
phlets on slavery brought into Charleston from some 
of our sister states within the last four years, (and 
once from Sierra Leone,) and distributed amongst the 
colored population of the city, for which there was a 
great facility, in consequence of the unrestricted inter- 
course allowed to persons of color between the differ- 
ent states in the Union, and the speeches in Congress 
of those opposed to the admission of Missouri into the 
Union, perhaps garbled and misrepresented, furnished 
him with ample means for inflaming the minds of the 
colored population of this state ; and by distorting 
certain parts of those speeches, or selecting from them 
particular passages, he persuaded but too many that 
Congress bad actually declared them free, and that 
they were held in bondage contrary to the laws of the 
land. Even whilst walking through the streets in 
company with another, he was not idle ; for if his com- 
panion bowed to a white person, he would rebuke him, 
and observe that all men wete born equal, and that he 
was surprised that any one woXrid degrade himself by 
such conduct, — that ho woula never cringe to the 
whites, nor ought any one who had the feelings of a 
man. When answered, ' We are slaves,' he would 
sarcastically and indignantly reply, ' You deserve to 
remain slaves;' and if he were further asked, 'What 
can we do ? ' he would remark, ' Go and buy a spell- 
ing-book and read the fable of Hercules and the 
Wagoner,' which he would then repeat, and apply it 
to their situation. He also sought every opportunity 



148 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

of entering into conversation with white persons, when 
they could be overheard by negroes near by, especially 
in grog shops ; during which conversation, he would 
artfully introduce some bold remark on slavery ; and 
sometimes, when, from the character he was conversing 
with, he found he might be still bolder, he would go 
so far, that, had not his declarations in such situations 
been clearly proved, they would scarcely have been 
credited. He continued this course until some time 
after the commencement of the last winter ; bv which 
time he had not only obtained incredible influence 
amongst persons of color, but many feared him more 
than their owners, and, one of them declared, even 
more than his God." 

The excitement which the revelations of the trial 
occasioned, and the continual fanning of the flame by 
the newspapers, were beyond description. Double guard 
in the city, the country patrol on horseback and en 
foot, the watchfulness that was observed on all planta- 
tions, showed the deep feeling of fear pervading the 
hearts of the slaveholders, not only in South Carolina, 
but the fever extended to the other Southern States, 
and all seemed to feel that a great crisis had been 
passed. And indeed, their fears seem not to have 
been without ground, for a more complicated plan for 
an insurrection could scarcely have been conceived. 
And many were of opinion that, the rising once begun, 
they would have taken the city and held it, and might 
have sealed the fate of slavery in the south. The best 
account of this whole matter is to be found in an able 
article in the Atlantic Monthly for June, 1861, from 
the pen of that eloquent friend of freedom T. W. Hig- 
ginson, and to which I am indebted for the extracta 
contained in this memoir of Denmark Vesey. 



HENRY HIGHLAND GARNETT. 149 



HENRY HIGHLAND GARNETT. 

Though born a slave in the State of Maryland, Henry 
Highland Garnett is the son of an African chief, stolen 
from the coast of his native land. His father's family 
were all held as slaves till 1822, when they escaped to 
the north. In 1835, he became a member of Canaan 
Academy, New Hampshire. Three months after en- 
tering the school, it was broken up by a mob, who 
destroyed the building. Mr. Garnett afterwards en- 
tered Oneida Institute, New York, under the charge 
of that noble-hearted friend of man, Beriah Green, 
where he was treated with equality by the professors 
and his fellow-students. There he gained the reputa- 
tion of a courteous and accomplished man, an able 
and eloquent debater, and a good writer. His first 
appearance as a public speaker was in 1837, in the city 
of New York, where his speech at once secured for him 
a standing among first-class orators. Mr. Garnett is 
in every sense of the term a progressive man. He is 
a strenuous advocate of freedom, temperance, educa- 
tion, and the religious, moral, and social elevation of 
his race. He is an acceptable preacher, evangelical in 
his profession. His discourses, though showing much 
thought and careful study, are delivered extempora- 
neously, and with good effect. Having complete com- 
mand of his voice, he uses it with skill, never failing 
to fill the largest hall. One of the most noted ad- 
dresses ever given by a colored man in this country 
was delivered by Mr. Garnett at the National Conven- 
tion of Colored Americans, at Buffalo, New York, in 
13* 



150 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

1843. None but those who heard that speech have 
the slightest idea of the tremendous influence which 
he exercised over the assembly. He spent some years 
over a church at Troy, and another at Geneva, New 
York, and in 1850 visited England, where he re- 
mained, lecturing, in different sections of the United 
Kingdom, \ipon American slavery, until 1852, we be- 
lieve, when, being joined by his family, he went as a 
missionary to Jamaica. After spending three years 
among the people of that island, he returned to the 
United States, and is now settled over Shiloh Church, 
New York city. Mr. Garnett is about forty-five years 
of age, unadulterated in race, tall and commanding 
in appearance, has an eye that looks through you, and 
a clear, ringing voice. He has written considerably, 
and has edited one or two journals at different times, 
devoted to the elevation of his race. The following 
from his pen will give but a faint idea of Mr. Garnett's 
powers as a writer : — 

" The woful volume of our history, as it now lies 
open to the world, is written with tears and bound with 
blood. As I trace it, my eyes ache and my heart is 
filled with grief. No other people have suffered so 
much, and none have been more innocent. If I might 
apostrophize that bleeding country, I would say, 
Africa, thou hast bled, freely bled, at every pore. Thy 
sorrow has been mocked, and thy grief has not been 
heeded. Thy children are scattered over the whole 
earth, and the great nations have been enriched by 
them. The wild beasts of thy forests are treated with 
more mercy than they. The Libyan lion and the fierce 
tiger are caged, to gratify the curiosity of men, and the 
keeper's hands are not laid heavily upon them. But 



HENRY HIGHLAND GARNETT. 151 

thy children are tortured, taunted, and hurried out of 
life by unprecedented cruelty. Brave men, formed in 
the divinest mould, are bartered, sold, and mortgaged. 
Stripped of every sacred right, they are scourged if 
they affirm that they belong to God. Women, sustain- 
ing the dear relation of mothers, are yoked with the 
horned cattle to till the soil, and their heart-strings are 
torn to pieces by cruel separations from their children. 
Our sisters, ever manifesting the purest kindness, 
whether in the wilderness of their fatherland, or amid 
the sorrows of the middle passage, or in crowded cities, 
are unprotected from the lust of tyrants. They have 
a regard for virtue, and they possess a sense of honor ; 
but there is no respect paid to these jewels of noble 
character. Driven into unwilling concubinage, their 
offspring are sold by their Anglo-Saxon fathers. To 
them the marriage institution is but a name, for their 
despoilers break down the hymeneal altar, and scatter 
its sacred ashes on the winds. 

" Our young men are brutalized in intellect, and 
their manly energies are chilled by the frosts of slavery. 
Sometimes they are called to witness the agonies of 
the mothers who bore them, writhing under the lash ; 
and as if to fill to overflowing the already full cup of 
demonism, they are sometimes compelled to apply the 
lash with their own hands. Hell itself cannot over- 
match a deed like this ; and dark damnation shudders 
as it sinks into its bosom, and seeks to hide itself from 
the indignant eye of God." 

Mr. Garnett paid a second visit to England a few 
months since, for the purpose of creating an interest 
there in behalf of emigration to Central Africa. 



152 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



JAMES M. WHITFIELD. 

There has long resided in Buffalo, New York, a 
barber, noted for his scholarly attainments and gentle- 
manly deportment. Men of the most polished refine- 
ment visit his saloon, and, while being shaved, take 
pleasure in conversing with him ; and all who know 
him feel that he was intended by nature for a higher 
position in life. This is James M. Whitfield. He is 
a native of Massachusetts, and removed west some 
years since. We give a single extract from one of 
his poems. 

" How long, gracious God, how long 

Shall power lord it over right ? 
The feeble, trampled by the strong, 

Remain in slavery's gloomy night ? 
In every region of the earth 

Oppression rules with iron power ; 
And everv man of sterling worth, 

Whose soul disdains to cringe or cower 
Beneath a haughty tyrant's nod, 
And, supplicating, kiss the rod 
That, wielded by oppression's might, 
Smites to the earth his clearest right, — 
The right to speak, and think, and feel, 

And spread his uttered thoughts abroad, 
To labor for the common weal, 

Responsible to none but God, — 
Is threatened witli the dungeon's gloom, 
The felon's cell, the traitor's doom, 



ANDRE RIGAUD. 153 

And treacherous politicians league 

With hireling priests to crush and ban 
All who expose their vain intrigue, 

And vindicate the rights of man. 
How long shall Afric raise to thee 

Her fettered hand, Lord, in vain, 
And plead in fearful agony 

For vengeance for her children slain ? 
I see the Gambia's swelling flood, 

And Niger's darkly-rolling wave, 
Bear on their bosoms, stained with blood, 

The bound and lacerated slave ; 
While numerous tribes spread near and far 
Fierce, devastating, barbarous war, 
Earth's fairest scenes in ruin laid, 
To furnish victims for that trade 
Which breeds on earth such deeds of shame, 
As fiends might blush to hear or name." 

Mr. Whitfield has written several long poems, all of 
them in good taste and excellent language. 



ANDRE RIGAUD. 



Slavery, in St. Domingo, created three classes — 
the white planters, the free mulattoes, and the slaves, 
the latter being all black. The revolution brought out 
several valiant chiefs among the mulattoes, their first 
being Vincent Oge. This man was not calculated for 
a leader of rebellion. His mother having been enabled 
to support him in France as a gentleman, he had cher- 
ished a delicacy of sentiment very incompatible with 



154 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the ferocity of revolt. But Andre Rigaud, their next 
and greatest chief, was a far different man. A native 
of Aux Cayes, educated at Bourdeaux, and afterwards 
spending some time at Paris, maturing his mind amid 
scenes of science and literature, Rigaud's position 
among his followers was an exalted one. His father 
was white and his mother black. He was tall and 
slim, with features beautifully defined. Nature had 
been profligate in bestowing her gifts upon him. 

While at the Military School at Paris, besides being 
introduced into good society, he became acquainted 
with Lafayette, Condorcet, Gregoire, and other dis- 
tinguished statesmen, and his manners were polished 
and his language elegant. In religion he was the 
very opposite of Toussaint. An admirer of Voltaire 
and Rousseau, he had made their works his study. 
A long residence in the French metropolis had en- 
abled him to become acquainted with the followers of 
these two distinguished philosophers. He had seen 
two hundred thousand persons following the bones of 
Voltaire, when removed to the Pantheon, and, in his 
admiration for the great author, had confounded lib- 
erty with infidelity. In Asia, he would have governed 
an empire ; in St. Domingo, he was scarcely more than 
an outlawed chief; but he had in his soul the elements 
of a great man. In military science, horsemanship, 
and activity, Rigaud was the first man on the island, 
of any color. Toussaint bears the following testimony 
to the great skill of the mulatto general : " I know 
Eigaud well. He leaps from his horse when at full 
gallop, and he puts all his force in his arm when lie 
strikes a blow." He was high-tempered, irritable, 
and haughty. The charmed power that he held over 



ANDRE RIGAUD. 155 

the men of his color can scarcely be described. At 
the breaking out of the revolution, he headed the rau- 
lattoes in his native town, and soon drew around him 
a formidable body of men. 

After driving the English and Spaniards from the 
island, and subduing the French planters, Toussaint 
and Rigaud made war upon each other. As the mu- 
lattoes were less than fifty thousand in number, and 
the blacks more than five hundred thousand, Rigaud 
was always outnumbered on the field of battle ; but 
his forces, fighting under the eyes of the general 
whom they adored, defended their territory with 
vigor, if not with success. Reduced in his means of 
defence by the loss of so many brave men in his re- 
cent battles, Rigaud had the misfortune to see his 
towns fall, one after anothet, into the power of Tous- 
saint, until he was driven to the last citadel of his 
strength — the town of Aux Cayes. As he thus 
yielded fooj by foot, every thing was given to desola- 
tion before it was abandoned, and the land, which 
under his active government had just before been so 
adorned with cultivation, was made such a waste of 
desolation, that, according almost to the very letter of 
his orders, " the trees were turned with their roots in 
the air." The genius and activity of Toussaint were 
completely at fault in his attempt to force the mulatto 
general from his intrenchments. 

The government of France was too much engaged 
at home with her own revolution to pay any attention 
to St. Domingo. The republicans in Paris, after get- 
ting rid of their enemies, turned upon each otber. 
The revolution, like Saturn, devoured its own chil- 
dren ; priest and people were murdered upon the 



156 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

thresholds of justice. Murat died at the hands of 
Charlotte Corday. Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette 
were guillotined, Robespierre had gone to the scaffold, 
and Bonaparte was master of France. 

The conqueror of Egypt now turned his attention 
to St. Domingo. It was too important an island to be 
lost to France or destroyed by civil war, and, through 
the mediation of Bonaparte, the war between Toussaint 
and Rigaud was brought to a close. 

Petion and several other generals followed Rigaud, 
when, at the conclusion of his war with Toussaint, he 
embarked for France. When Napoleon's ill-fated ex- 
pedition came to St. Domingo, Rigaud returned, made 
his appearance at Aux Cayes, and, under his influ- 
ence, the south soon rallied in arms against Toussaint. 
He fought bravely for France until the subjugation of 
the blacks and the transportation of their chief to the 
mother country, when Napoleon felt that Rigaud, too, 
was as dangerous to the peace of St. Domingo as 
Toussaint, and he was once more forced to return to 
France. Here he was imprisoned — not for any thing 
that he had done against the government of Bonaparte, 
but for fear that the mulatto chief would return to 
his native island, take up arms, and assist his race, 
who were already in rebellion against Leclerc. 

Although the whites and the free colored men were 
linked together by the tender ties of nature, there 
was, nevertheless, a hatred to each other, even strong- 
er than between the whites and the blacks. In the 
earlier stages of the revolution, before the blacks 
under Toussaint got the ascendency, several attempts 
had been made to get rid of the leaders of the mu- 
lattoes, and especially Rigaud. He was hated by the 



ANDRE RIGAUD. 157 

whites in the same degree as they feared his all-power- 
ful influence with his race, and the unyielding nature 
of his character, which gave firmness and consistency 
to his policy while controlling the interests of his 
brethren. Intrigue and craftiness could avail nothing 
against the designs of one who was ever upon the 
watch, and who had the means of counteracting all 
secret attempts against him ; and open force, in the 
field, could not be successful in destroying a chieftain 
whose power was often felt, but whose person was sel- 
dom seen. Thus, to accomplish a design which had 
long been in meditation, the whites of Aux Cayes were 
now secretly preparing a mine for Rigaud, which, 
though it was covered with roses, and to be sprung 
by professed friends, it was thought would prove a 
sure and efficacious method of ridding them of such 
an opponent, and destroying the pretensions of the 
nmlattoes forever. It was proposed that the anni- 
versary of the destruction of the Bastile should bo 
celebrated in the town by both whites and mulattoes, 
in union and gratitude. A civic procession marched 
to the church, where Te Deum was chanted and an 
oration pronounced. The Place d'Armes was crowded 
with tables of refreshments, at which both whites and 
mulattoes seated themselves. But beneath this seem- 
ing patriotism and friendship, a dark and fatal con- 
spiracy lurked, plotting treachery and death. It had 
been resolved that, at a preconcerted signal, every 
white at the table should plunge his knife into the 
bosom of the mulatto who was seated nearest to him. 
Cannon had been planted around the place of fes- 
tivity, that no fugitive from the massacre should have 
. the means of escaping ; and that Rigaud should not 
14 



158 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

fail to be secured as the first victim of a conspiracy 
prepared especially against his life, the commander-in- 
chief of the National Guard had been placed at his 
side, and his murder of the mulatto chieftain was to 
be the signal for a general onset upon all his followers. 
The officer to whom had been intrusted the assassina- 
tion of Rigaud, found it no small matter to screw his 
courage up to the sticking point, and the expected 
signal, which he was to display in blood to his asso- 
ciates, was so long delayed, that secret messengers 
began to throng to him from all parts of the tables, 
demanding why execution was not done on Rigaud. 
Urged on by these successive appeals, the white gen- 
eral at last applied himself to the fatal task which had 
been allotted him ; but instead of silently plunging 
his dagger into the bosom of the mulatto chief, he 
sprung upon him with a pistol in his hand, and, with 
a loud execration, fired it at his intended victim. 
But Rigaud remained unharmed, and, in the scuffle 
which ensued, the white assassin was disarmed and 
put to flight. The astonishment of the mulattoes 
soon gave way to tumult and indignation, and this 
produced a drawn battle, in which both whites and 
mulattoes, exasperated as they were to the utmost, 
fought man to man. The struggle continued fiercely 
until the whites were driven from the town, having 
lost one hundred and fifty of their number, and slain 
many of their opponents. 

Tidings of this conspiracy flew rapidly in all direc- 
tions ; and such was the indignation of the mulattoes 
at this attack upon their chief, whose death had even 
been announced in several places as certain, that they 
seized upon all the whites within their reach ; and 



ANDRE RIGAUD. ' 159 

their immediate massacre was only prevented by the 
arrival of intelligence that Rigand was still alive. 
Such were the persecutions which the leader of the 
mulattoes, now in exile, had experienced in his own 
land. Napoleon kept him confined in the prison of 
the Temple first, and then at the castle of Joux, where 
Toussaint had ended his life. 

During this time, St. Domingo was undergoing a 
great change. Leclerc had died, Rochambeau and 
his forces had been driven from the island, Dessalines 
had reigned and passed away, and Christophe was 
master of the north, and Petion of the south. These 
two generals were at war with each other, when they 
were both very much surprised at the arrival of 
Rigaud from France. He had escaped from his 
prison, made his way to England, and thence to the 
island by way of the United States. Petion, the presi- 
dent of the republic in the south, regarded Rigaud as 
a more formidable enemy than Christophe. The great 
mulatto general was welcomed with enthusiasm by 
his old adherents ; they showed the most sincere 
respect and attachment for him, and he journeyed in 
triumph to Port au Prince. Though Petion disliked 
these demonstrations in favor of a rival, he dared not 
attempt to interfere, for he well knew that a single 
word from Rigaud could raise a revolt among the mu- 
lattoes. Petion, himself a mulatto, had served under 
the former in the first stages of the revolution. The 
people of Aux Cayes welcomed their chief to his home, 
and he drew around him all hearts, and in a short 
time Rigaud was in full possession of his ancient 
power. The government of Petion was divided to 
\~ake room for the former chief, and, though the two 



160 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

leaders for a while flew to arms against each other, 
they, nevertheless, were driven to an alliance on ac- 
count of the encroachments of Christophe. 

After a reign that was fraught only with tumult to 
himself and followers, Rigaud abdicated his province, 
retired to his farm, and in a few weeks died. Thus 
ended the career of the most distinguished mulatto 
general of which St. Domingo could boast. 



FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS. 

Miss Watkins is a native of Baltimore, where she 
received her education. She has been before the pub- 
lic some years as an author and public lecturer. Her 
" Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects," published in a 
small volume, show a reflective mind and no ordinary 
culture. Her " Essay on Christianity " is a beautiful 
composition. Many of her poems are soul-stirring, and 
all are characterized by chaste language and much 
thought. The following is entitled 

THE SLAVE MOTHER. 

' Heard you that shriek ? It rose 
So wildly on the air, 
It seemed as if a burdened heart 
Was breaking in despair. 

Saw you those hands so sadly clasped, 

The bowed and feeble head, 
The shuddering of that fragile form, 

That look of grief and dread ? 



FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS. 1G1 

Saw yon the sad, imploring eye ? 

Its every glance was pain, 
As if a storm of agony 

Were sweeping through the brain. 

She is a mother pale with fear ; 

Her boy clings to her side, 
And in her kirtle vainly tries 

His trembling form to hide. 

He is not hers, although she bore 

For him a mother's pains ; 
He is not hers, although her blood 

Is coursing through his veins. 

He is not hers, for cruel hands 

May rudely tear apart 
The only wreath of household love 

T^iat binds her breaking heart. 

His love has been a joyous light 

That o'er her pathway smiled, 
A fountain, gushing ever new, 

Amid life's desert wild. 

His lightest word has been a tone 

Of music round her heart ; 
Their lives a streamlet blent in one — 

Father, must they part ? 

They tear him from her circling arms, 

Her last and fond embrace ; 
0, never more may her sad eyes 

Gaze on his mournful face. 
14* 



162 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks 

Disturb the listening air ; 
She is a mother, and her heart 

Is breaking in despair. 

Miss Watkins's advice to her own sex on the selec- 
tion of a husband should be appreciated by all. 

Nay, do not blush ! I only heard 

You had a mind to marry; 
I thought I'd speak a friendly word ; 

So just one moment tarry. 

Wed not a man whose merit lies 

In things of outward show, 
In raven hair or flashing eyes, 

That please your fancy so. 

• 
But marry one who's good and kind, 

And free from all pretence ; 

Who, if without a gifted mind, 

At least has common sense. 

Miss Watkins is about thirty years of age, of a fra- 
gile form, rather nervous, keen and witty in conversa- 
tion, outspoken in her opinions, and yet appears in all 
tie simplicity of a child. 



EX-PRESIDENT ROBERTS. 163 



EX-PRESIDENT ROBERTS. 

J. J. Roberts, ex-president of the Republic of Li- 
beria, is a native of the Old Dominion, and emigrated 
to his adopted country about twenty-five years ago. In 
stature he is tall, slim, and has a commanding appear- 
ance, sharp features, pleasant countenance, and is what 
the ladies would call " good looking." Mr. Roberts 
has much the bearing of an " English gentleman." 
He has fine abilities, and his state papers will compare 
favorably with the public documents of any of the 
presidents of the United States. He is thoroughly 
devoted to the interest of the rising republic, and has 
visited Europe several times in her behalf. 

The following extract from the inaugural address 
of President Roberts to the legislature of Liberia, in 
1848, on the colonists taking the entire responsibility 
of the government, is eloquent and pointed : — 

" It must afford the most heartfelt pleasure and sat- 
isfaction to every friend of Liberia, and real lover of 
'liberty, to observe by what a fortunate train of circum- 
stances and incidents the people of these colonies have 
arrived at absolute freedom and independence. When 
we look abroad and see by what slow and painful steps, 
marked with blood and ills of every kind, other states 
of the world have advanced to liberty and independ- 
ence, we cannot but admire and praise that all-gra- 
cious Providence, who, by his unerring ways, has, with 
so few sufferings on our part, compared with other 
states, led us to this happy stage in our progress to- 
wards those great and important objects. That it is 



164 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the will of Heaven that mankind should be free, is 
clearly evidenced by the wealth, vigor, virtue, and con- 
sequent happiness of all free states. But the idea that 
Providence will establish such governments as he shall 
deem most fit for his creatures, and will give them 
wealth, influence, and happiness without their efforts, 
is palpably absurd. God's moral government of the 
earth is always performed by the intervention of second 
causes. Therefore, fellow-citizens, while with pious 
gratitude we survey the frequent interpositions of 
Heaven in our behalf, we ought to remember, that as 
the disbelief of an overruling Providence is atheism, 
so an absolute confidence of having our government 
relieved from every embarrassment, and its citizens 
made respectable and happy by the immediate hand 
of God, without our own exertions, is the most culpa- 
ble presumption. Nor have we any reason to expect, 
that he will miraculously make Liberia a paradise, 
and deliver us, in a moment of time, from all the ills 
and inconveniences consequent upon the peculiar cir- 
cumstances under which we are placed, merely to 
convince us that he favors our cause and govern- 
rnent. 

" Sufficient indications of his will are always given, 
and those who will not then believe, neither would 
they believe though one should rise from the dead to 
inform them. Who can trace the progress of these 
colonies, and mark the incidents of the wars in which 
they have been engaged, without seeing evident tokens 
of providential favor. Let us, therefore, inflexibly 
persevere in exerting our most strenuous efforts in a 
humble and rational dependence on the great Governor 
of all the world, and we have the fairest prospects of 



ALEXANDER CRUMMELL. 165 

surmounting all the difficulties which may bt thrown 
in our way. That we may expect, and that we shall 
have, difficulties, sore difficulties, yet to contend against 
in our progress to maturity, is certain ; and, as the 
political happiness or wretchedness of ourselves and 
our children, and of generations yet unborn, is in our 
hands, — nay, more, the redemption of Africa from the 
deep degradation, superstition, and idolatry in which 
she has so long been involved, — it becomes us to lay 
our shoulders to the wheel, and manfully resist every 
obstacle which may oppose our progress in the great 
work which lies before us." 

Mr. Roberts, we believe, is extensively engaged in 
commerce and agriculture, and, though out of office, 
makes himself useful in the moral, social, and intel- 
lectual elevation of his brethren. No one is more re- 
spected, or stands higher, in Liberia than he. 



ALEXANDER CRUMMELL. 

Among the many bright examples of the black man 
which we present, one of the foremost is Alexander 
Crummell. Blood unadulterated, a tall and manly 
figure, commanding in appearance, a full and musical 
voice, fluent in speech, a graduate of Cambridge Uni- 
versity, England, a mind stored with the richness of 
English literature, competently acquainted with the 
classical authors of Greece and Rome, from the grave 
Thucydides to the rhapsodical Lycophron, gentlemanly 
in all his movements, language chaste and refined, Mr. 
• Crummell may well be put forward as one of the best 



166 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

and most favorable representatives of his race. He is 
a clergyman of the Episcopal denomination, and deeply 
versed in theology. His sermons are alwaj^ written, 
but he reads them as few persons can. In 1848 Mr. 
Crnmmell visited England, and delivered a well-con- 
ceived address before the Anti-Slavery Society in Lon- 
don, where his eloquence and splendid abilities were 
at once acknowledged and appreciated. The year be- 
fore his departure for the old world, he delivered a 
" Eulogy on the Life and Character of Thomas Clark- 
son," from which we make the following extract, which 
is full of meaning and eloquence: — 

" Let us not be unmindful of the prerogatives and 
obligations arising from the fact, that the exhibition of 
the greatest talent, and the development of the most 
enlarged philanthropy, in the nineteenth century, have 
been bestowed upon our race. The names of the great 
lights of the age, — statesmen, poets, and divines, — in 
all the great countries of Europe, and in this country 
too, are inseparably connected with the cause and des- 
tiny of the African race. This has been the theme 
whence most of them have reaped honor and immor- 
tality. This cause has produced the development of 
the most noble character of modern times — has given 
the world a Wilberforce and a Clarkson. Lowly and 
depressed as we have been, and as we now are, yet 
our interests and our welfare have agitated the chief 
countries of the world, and are now before all other 
questions, shaking this nation to its very centre. The 
providences of God have placed the negro race before 
Europe and America in the most commanding position. 
From the sight of us no nation, no statesman, no eccle- 
siastic, and no ecclesiastical institution, can escape. 



ALEXANDER CRUMMELL. 167 

And by us and our cause the character and greatness 
of individuals and of nations in this day and generation 
of the world are to be decided, either for good or evil ; 
and so, in all coming times, the memory and the fame 
of the chief actors now on the stage will be decided by 
their relation to our cause. The discoveries of science, 
the unfoldings of literature, the dazzlings of genius, all 
fade before the demands of this cause. This is the age 
of brotherhood and humanity, and the negro race is 
its most distinguished test and criterion. 

" And for what are all these providences ? For 
nothing? He who thinks so must be blinded — must 
be demented. In these facts are wound up a most dis- 
tinct significance, and with them are connected most 
clear and emphatic obligations and responsibilities. 
The clear-minded and thoughtful colored men of 
America must mark the significance of these facts, and 
begin to feel their weight. For more than two centu- 
ries we have been working our way from the deep and 
dire degradation into which slavery had plunged us. 
We have made considerable headway. By the vigor- 
ous use of the opportunities of our partial freedom we 
have been enabled, with the divine blessing, to reach 
a position of respectability and character. We have 
pressed somewhat into the golden avenues of science, 
intelligence, and learning. We have made impressions 
there; and some few of our footprints have. we left 
behind. The mild light of religion has illumined our 
pathway, and superstition and error have fled apace. 
The greatest paradoxes are evinced by us. Amid the 
decay of nations, a rekindled light starts up in us. 
Burdens under which others expire seem to have lost 
their influence upon us ; and while they are ' driven to 



\ 

168 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the wall,' destruction keeps far from us its blasting 
hand. We live in the region of death, yet seem hardly 
mortal. We cling to life in the midst of all reverses ; 
and our nerveful grasp thereon cannot easily be re- 
laxed. History reverses its mandates in our behalf: 
our dotage is in the past. ' Time writes not its wrin- 
kles on our brow;' our juvenescence is in the future. 
All this, and the kindly nature which is acknowledged- 
ly ours, — with gifts of freedom vouchsafed us by the 
Almighty in this land, in part, and in the West Indies ; 
with the intellectual desire every where manifesting 
itself, and the exceeding interest exhibited for Africa 
by her own children, and by the Christian nations of 
the world, are indications from which we may not 
gather a trivial meaning, nor a narrow significance. 

" The teaching of God in all these things is, un- 
doubtedly, that ours is a great destiny, and that we 
should open our eyes to it. God is telling us all that, 
whereas the past has been dark, grim, and repulsive, 
the future shall be glorious ; that the horrid traffic 
shall yet be entirely stopped ; that the whips and 
brands, the shackles and fetters, of slavery shall be cast 
down to oblivion ; that the shades of ignorance and 
superstition that have so long settled down upon the 
mind of Africa shall be dispelled ; and that all her 
sons on her own brOad continent, in the Western Isles, 
and in this Republic, shall yet stand erect beneath the 
heavens, ' with freedom chartered on their manly 
brows ; ' their bosoms swelling with its noblest raptures 
■ — treading the face of earth in the links of brotherhood 
and equality." 

We have had a number of our public men to repre- 
sent us in Europe within the past twenty-five years ; 



ALEXANDRE PETION. 169 

and none have done it more honorably or with better 
success to the character and cause of the black man, 
than Alexander Crummell. We met him there again 
and again, and followed in his track wherever he 
preached or spoke before public assemblies, and we 
know whereof we affirm. In 1852, we believe, he 
went to Liberia, where he now resides. At present he 
and his family are on a visit to " the States," partly for 
his health and partly for the purpose of promoting em- 
igration to Africa. Mr. C. has recently published a 
valuable work on Africa, which is highly spoken of by 
the press ; indeed, it may be regarded as the only 
finished account of our mother land. Devotedly at- 
tached to the interest of the colored man, and having 
the moral, social, and intellectual elevation of the na- 
tives of Africa at heart, we do not regret that he con- 
siders it his duty to labor in his father land. Warmly 
interested in the Republic, and so capable of filling 
the highest position that he can be called to, we shall 
not be surprised, some day, to hear that Alexander 
Crummell is president of Liberia. 



ALEXANDRE PETION. 

The ambitious and haughty mulattoes had long been 
dissatisfied with the obscure condition into which they 
had been thrown by the reign of Dessalines, and at the 
death of that ruler they determined to put forward 
their claim. Their great chief, Rigaud, was still in 
prison in France, where he had been placed by Napo- 
leon. Christophe had succeeded to power at the close 
15 



170 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

of the empire, and was at St. Marks when he heard 
that Alexandre Petion had been elected president of 
the Republic of Hayti, through the instrumentality of 
the mulattoes. Christophe at once began to prepare 
for war. Petion was a quadroon, the successor of 
Rigaud and Clervaux to the confidence of the mulat- 
toes. He was a man of education and refined man- 
ners. He had been educated at the Military School of 
Paris, and had ever been characterized for his mildness 
of temper and the insinuating grace of his address. He 
was a skilful engineer, and at the time of his elevation 
to power he passed for the most scientific officer and 
the most erudite individual among the people of Hayti. 
Attached to the fortunes of Rigaud, he had acted as 
his lieutenant against Toussaint, and had accompanied 
him to France. Here he remained until the departure 
of the expedition under Leclerc, when he embarked in 
that disastrous enterprise, to employ his talents in 
again restoring his country to the dominion of France. 
Petion joined Dessalines, Christophe, and Clervaux, 
when they revolted and turned against the French, 
and aided in gaining the final independence of the 
island. Christophe, therefore, as soon as he heard 
that he had a rival in Petion, rallied his forces, and 
started for Port au Prince, to meet his enemy. The 
former was already in the field, and the two armies 
met ; a battle ensued, and Petion, being defeated, and 
hotly pursued in his flight, found it necessary, in order 
to save his life, to exchange his uniform with a laborer, 
and to bury himself up to his neck in a marsh until his 
fierce pursuers had disappeared. Petion escaped, and 
reached his capital before- the arrival of the troops un- 
der Christophe. The latter, after this signal success, 



ALEXANDRE PETION. 171 

pressed forward to Port au Prince, and laid siege tc the 
town, in hope of an easy triumph over his rival. But 
Petion was in his appropriate sphere of action, and 
Christophe soon discovered that, in contending with an 
experienced engineer in a fortified town, success was of 
more difficult attainment than while encountering the 
same enemy in the open field, where his science could 
not be brought into action. Christophe could make no 
impression on the town, and feeling ill assured of the 
steadfastness of his own proper government at Cape 
Francois, he withdrew his forces from the investment 
of Port au Prince, resolved to establish in the north a 
separate government of his own, and to defer to some 
more favorable opportunity the attempt to subdue his 
rival at Port au Prince. In September, 1808, Petion 
commenced another campaign against Christophe, by 
sending an army to besiege Port do Paix, which it 
did ; but after a while it was driven back to Port au 
Prince by the victorious legions of the president of the 
north. Christophe in turn attempted to take the Mole 
St. Nicholas from Lamarre, one of Petion's generals, 
but did not succeed. The struggle between the two 
presidents of Hayti had now continued three years, 
when a new competitor appeared in the field, by the 
arrival of Rigaud from France. This was an unex- 
pected event, which awakened deep solicitude in the 
bosom of Petion, who could not avoid regarding that 
distinguished general as a more formidable rival than 
Christophe. He well knew the attachment of the peo- 
ple to the great mulatto chief, and he feared his supe- 
rior talents. The enthusiasm with which Rigaud was 
received wherever he appeared, raised the jealousy of 
Petion to such a pitch, that he for a time forgot his 



172 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

black rival. Partisans flew to the standard of Rigaud, 
and a resort to arms seemed imminent between him 
and Petion. A meeting, however, was held by the 
two mulatto generals, at the bridge of Miragoane, 
where a treaty was signed, by which the south was to 
be governed by the former, and the west, and as much 
as could be wrested from Christophe, by the latter. 
But peace between these two was not destined to be 
of long duration. A war took place, and Rigaud's 
troops proved too much for Petion, and he was defeated 
with great loss, and his entire army almost annihilated. 
But the victorious general did not follow up his suc- 
cesses ; and although he had gained a signal victory, he 
felt that much of his power over his followers was pass- 
ing away. The death of Rigaud once more gave the 
field to Christophe and Petion, and they again com- 
menced war upon each other. The latter was supe- 
rior to the former in education, and in the refinement 
given him by a cultivated understanding and an ex- 
tensive intercourse with European society ; but he was 
greatly inferior to Christophe in boldness and decision 
of character. Petion was subtle, cautious, and de- 
sponding. He aspired to be the Washington, as Chris- 
tophe was deemed the Bonaparte, of Hayti. By insin- 
uating the doctrines of equality and republicanism, 
Petion succeeded in governing, with but ten thousand 
mulattoes, a population of more than two hundred 
thousand blacks. Assuming no pretensions to per- 
sonal or official dignity, and totally rejecting all the 
ceremonial of a court, it was Petion's ambition to 
maintain the exterior of a plain republican magistrate. 
Clad in the white linen undress of the country, and 
with a Madras handkerchief tied about his head, he 



ALEXANDRE TETION. 173 

mixed freely and promiscuously with his fellow- citi- 
zens, or seated himself in the piazza of the government 
house, accessible to all. He professed to hold himself 
at the disposal of the people, and to be ready at any 
moment to submit to their will, whether it was to 
guide the power of the state, or yield his head to the 
executioner. 

A republican officer one day called on Petion at the 
government house, and while they were alone, the for- 
mer drew out a pistol and fired at the president, with- 
out injuring him, however ; the latter immediately 
seized his visitor, disarmed him, and when the guard 
rushed in, he found the president and the officer walk- 
ing the room locked in each other's arms. This man 
was ever after the warm friend of Petion. At the 
downfall of Napoleon, and the elevation of Louis 
XVIII., another effort was made to regain possession 
of the island by France. But the latter did not resort 
to arms. Having no confidence in the French, and 
fearing a warlike demonstration, both Petion and 
Christophe prepared for defence. Petion had long- 
been despondent for the permanence of the republic, 
and this feeling had by degrees grown into a settled 
despair ; and amidst these perplexities and embarrass- 
ments he fell sick, in the month of March, 1818, and 
after an illness which continued only eight days, he 
died, and was succeeded by General Boyer. 

The administration of Petion was mild, and he did 
all that he could for the elevation of the people whom 
he ruled. He was the patron of education and the 
arts, and scientific men, for years after his death, spoke 
his name with reverence. He was highly respected by 
the representatives of foreign powers, and strangers 
15* 



174 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

visiting his republic always mentioned his name in 
connection with the best cultivated and most gentle- 
manly of the people of Hayti. Lightly lie the earth 
on the bones of Petion, and let every cloud pass away 
from his memory. 



MARTIN R. DELANY, M.D. 

Dr. Delany has long been before the public. His 
first appearance, we believe, was in connection with 
The Mystery, a weekly newspaper published at Pitts- 
burg, and of which he was editor. His journal was 
faithful in its advocacy of the rights of man, and had 
the reputation of being a well-conducted sheet. The 
doctor afterwards was associated with Frederick Dous-- 
lass in the editorial management of his paper at Roch- 
ester, N. Y. From the latter place he removed to 
Canada, and has since resided in Chatham, where he 
is looked upon as one of its leading citizens. 

Dr. M. R. Delany, though regarded as a man high 
in his profession, is better and more widely known as 
a traveller, discoverer, and lecturer. His association 
with Professor Campbell in the " Niger Valley Explor- 
ing Expedition " has brought the doctor very promi- 
nently before the world, and especially that portion of 
it which takes an interest in the civilization of Africa. 
The official report of that expedition shows that he did 
not visit that country with his eyes shut. His obser- 
vations and suggestions about the climate, soil, dis- 
eases, and natural productions of Africa, are interesting, 
and give evidence that the doctor was in earnest. The 



ROBERT SMALL. 175 

published report, of which he is the author, will repay 
a perusal. 

On his return home, Dr. Delany spent some time in 
England, and lectured in the British metropolis and 
the provincial cities, with considerable success, on Af- 
rica and its resources. As a member of the Interna- 
tional Statistical Congress, he acquitted himself with 
credit to his position and honor to his race. The fool- 
ish manner in which the Hon. Mr. Dallas, our minister 
to the court of St. James, acted on meeting Dr. Delany 
in that august assembly, and the criticisms of the press 
of Europe and America, will not soon be forgotten. 

He is short, compactly built, has a quick, wiry walk, 
and is decided and energetic in conversation, unadul- 
terated in race, and proud of his complexion. Though 
somewhat violent in his gestures, and paying but little 
regard to the strict rules of oratory, Dr. Delany is, 
nevertheless, an interesting, eloquent speaker. Devo- 
tedly attached to his fatherland, he goes for a " Negro 
Nationality." Whatever he undertakes, he executes 
it with all the powers that God has given him; and 
what would appear as an obstacle in the way of other 
men, would be brushed aside by Martin R. Delany. 



ROBERT SMALL 



At the breaking out of the rebellion, Robert Small 
was a slave in Charleston, S. C. He stood amid a 
group of his fellow-slaves, as the soldiers were getting 
ready to make the assault upon Fort Sumter, and he 
said to his associates, " This, boys, is the dawn of 



176 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

freedom for our race." Robert, at this time, was em- 
ployed as pilot on board the steamboat " Planter," 
owned at Charleston, and then lying at her dock. 
The following day, the steamer commenced undergoing 
alterations necessary to fit her for a gunboat. Robert, 
when within hearing of the whites, was loud in his talk 
of what " we'll do with the Yankees, when this boat is 
ready for sea." The Planter was soon transmogri- 
fied into a rebel man-of-war, to be used in and about 
the rivers and bays near Charleston, and Robert Small 
was her acknowledged pilot. One of Robert's brothers 
was second engineer, and a cousin to him was the sec- 
ond mate ; the remainder of the crew were all slaves, 
except the white officers. It was the custom of the 
captain, chief mate, and chief engineer to spend the 
night with their families in the city, when the steamer 
was in port, the vessel being left in charge of Robert. 
The following is the account of the capture of the 
boat by her black crew, as given by the Port Royal 
correspondent of the New York Commercial Adver- 
tiser: — 

"The steamer Planter, which was run away from the 
rebels by her pilot, Robert Small, is a new tug boat em- 
ployed about Charleston harbor, which was seized by 
the Confederate government and converted into a gun- 
boat, mounting a rifled gun forward and a siege gun 
aft. She has been in the habit of running out to sea 
to reconnoitre, and was, therefore, no unusual appear- 
ance near the forts guarding the entrance. Small, the 
helmsman and pilot, conceived the idea of running 
away, and plotted with several friends, slaves like him, 
to take them off. 

" On the evening of May 11, her officers left the ship, 



EOBERT SIM ALL. 177 

then at the wharf in Charleston, and went to their 
homes. Small then took the firemen and assistant 
engineers, all of whom were slaves, in his confidence, 
had the fires banked up, and every thing made ready 
to start by daylight. 

" At quarter to four on Saturday morning, the lines 
which fastened the vessel to the dock were cast off, 
and the ship quietly glided into the stream. Here 
the harbor guard hailed the vessel, but Small promptly 
gave the countersign, and was allowed to pass. 

" The vessel now called at a dock a distance below, 
where the families of the crew came on board. 

" When off Fort Sumter, the sentry on the ramparts 
hailed the boat, and Small sounded the countersign 
with the whistle — three shrill sounds and one hissing 
sound. The vessel being known to the officers of the 
day, no objection was raised, the sentry only singing 

out, ' Blow the d d Yankees to hell, or bring one 

of them in.' ' Ay, ay,' was the answer, and every 
possible effort was made to get below. 

" Hardly was the vessel out of range, when Small 
ran up a white flag, and went to the United States fleet, 
where he surrendered the vessel. She had on board 
seven heavy guns for Fort Ripley, a fort now build- 
ing in Charleston harbor, which were to be taken 
thither the next morning. 

" Small, with the crew and their families, — sixteen 
persons, — were sent to the flagship at Port Royal, and 
an officer placed on board the Planter, who took her 
also to Commodore Dupont's vessel. Small is a mid- 
dle-aged negro, and his features betray nothing of the 
firmness of character he displayed. He is said to be 
one of the most skilful pilots of Charleston, and to 



178 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

have a thorough knowledge of all the ports and inlets 
on the coast of South Carolina." 

We give below the official account of the taking and 
surrender of the boat to the naval authorities. 

U. S. Steamship Augusta, } 
Off Charleston, May 13, 1862. ) 

Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the rebel armed 
steamer Planter was brought out to us this morning from Charleston 
by eight contrabands, and delivered up to the squadron. Five col- 
ored women and three children are also on board. She carried one 
32-pounder and one 24-pounder howitzer, and has also on board four 
large guns, which she was engaged in transporting. I send her to 
Port Royal at once, in order to take advantage of the present good 
weather. I send Charleston papers of the 12th, and the very intelli- 
gent contraband who was in charge will give you the information 
which he has brought off. I have the honor to request that you will 
send back, as soon as convenient, the officer and crew sent on 
board. 

Commander Dupont, in forwarding the despatch, 
says, in relation to the steamer Planter, — 

She was the armed despatch and transportation steamer attached 
to the engineer department at Charleston, under Brigadier General 
Ripley, whose bark, a short time since, was brought to the blockading 
fleet by several contrabands. The bringing out of this steamer, under 
all the circumstances, would have done credit to any one. At four 
in the morning, in the absence of the captain, who was on shore, she 
left her wharf close to the government office and headquarters, with 
the Palmetto and " Confederate " flags flying, and passed the successive 
forts, saluting, as usual, by blowing the steam whistle. After getting 
beyond the range of the last gun, they hauled down the rebel flags, 
and hoisted a white one. The Onward was the inside ship of the 
blockading squadron in the main channel, and was preparing to 
fire when her commander made out the white flag. The armament 
of the steamer is a 32-pounder, or pivot, and a fine 24-pound how- 
itzer. She has besides, on her deck, four other guns, one seven inch 
rifled, which were to be taken, on the morning of the escape, to the 
new fort on the middle ground. One of the four belonged to Fort 
Sumter, and had been struck, in the rebel attack, on the muzzle. 
Robert Small, the intelligent slave, and pilot of the boat, who per- 






ROBERT SMALL. 179 

formed this bold feat so skilfully, informed me of this fact, presum- 
ing it -would be a matter of interest to us to have possession of this 
gun. This man, Robert Small, is superior to any who have come 
into our lines, intelligent as many of them have been. His infor- 
mation has been most interesting, and portions of it of the utmost 
importance. The steamer is quite a valuable acquisition to the 
squadron by her good machinery and very light draught. The officer 
in charge brought her through St. Helena Sound, and by the in- 
land passage down Beaufort River, arriving here at ten last night. 
On board the steamer, when she left Charleston, were eight men, 
five women, and three children. I shall continue to employ Small 
as pilot on board the Planter, for inland waters, with which he ap- 
pears to be very familiar. 

I do not know whether, in the view of the government, the ves- 
sel will be considered a prize ; but if so, I respectfully submit to the 
Department the claims of the man Small and his associates. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

S. F. DUPONT, 
Flag Officer, Commanding, <$,<?. 

A bill was at once introduced in Congress to con- 
sider the Planter a prize, and to award the prize- 
money to her crew. The New York Tribune had the 
following editorial on the subject: — 

"The House of Representatives at Washington, it is 
to be hoped, will be more just to their own sense Of 
right, and to their more generous impulses, than to 
put aside again the Senate bill giving the prize-money 
they have so well earned to the pilot and crew of the 
steamer Planter. Neither House would have done an 
act unworthy of their dignity had they promptly passed 
a vote of thanks to Robert Small and his fellows for 
the cool courage with which they planned and executed 
their escape from rebel bondage, and the unswerving 
loyalty which prompted them, at the same time, to 
bring away such spoils from the enemy as would make 
a welcome addition to the blockading squadron. 



180 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

" If we must still remember with humiliation that 
the Confederate flag yet waves where our national 
colors were first struck, we should be all the more 
prompt to recognize the merit that has put into our 
possession the first trophy from Fort Sumter. And 
the country should feel doubly humbled if there is 
not magnanimity enough to acknowledge a gallant 
action, because it was the head of a black man that 
conceived, and the hand of a black man that executed 
it. It would better, indeed, become us to remember 
that no small share of the naval glory of the war 
belongs to the race which we have forbidden to fight 
for us ; that one negro has recaptured a vessel from a 
southern privateer, and another has brought away 
from under the very guns of the enemy, where no 
fleet of ours has yet dared to venture, a prize whose 
possession a commodore thinks worthy to be an- 
nounced in a special despatch." 

The bill was taken up and passed, and the brave 
Small and his companions received justice at the 
hands of the government. 



FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 

The career of the distinguished individual whose 
name heads this page is more widely known than that 
of any other living colored man, except, perhaps, 
Alexandre Dumas. The narrative of his life, pub- 
lished in 1845, gave a new impetus to the black man's 
literature. All other stories of fugitive slaves faded 
away before the beautifully written, highly descriptive, 



FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 181 

and thrilling memoir of Frederick Douglass. Other 
narratives had only brought before the public a few 
heart-rending scenes connected with the person de- 
scribed. But Mr. Douglass, in his book, brought not 
only his old master's farm and its occupants before 
the reader, but the entire country around him, in- 
cluding Baltimore and its ship yard. The manner in 
which he obtained his education, and especially his 
learning to write, has been read and re-read by thou- 
sands in both hemispheres. His escape from slavery 
is too well understood to need a recapitulation here. 
He took up his residence in New Bedford, where he 
still continued the assiduous student — mastering the 
different branches of education which the accursed 
institution had deprived him of in early life. 

His advent as a lecturer was a remarkable one. 
White men and black men had talked against slavery, 
but none had ever spoken like Frederick Douglass. 
Throughout the north the newspapers were filled with 
the sayings of the " eloquent fugitive." He often 
travelled with others, but they were all lost sight of in 
the eagerness to hear Douglass. His travelling com- 
panions would sometimes get angry, and would speak 
first at the meetings ; then they would take the last 
turn ; but it was all the same — the fugitive's impres- 
sion was the one left upon the mind. He made more 
persons angry, and pleased more, than any other man. 
He was praised, and he was censured. He made them 
laugh, he made them weep, and he made them swear. 
His " Slaveholder's Sermon " was always a trump 
card. He awakened an interest in the hearts of 
thousands who before were dead to the slave and his 
condition. Many kept away from his lectures, fearing 
16 



182 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

lest they should be converted against their will. 
Young men and women, in those days of pro-slavery 
hatred, would return to their fathers' roofs filled with 
admiration for the " runaway slave," and would be 
rebuked by hearing the old ones grumble out, " You'd 
better stay at home and study your lessons, and not 
be running after the nigger meetings." 

In 1841, he was induced to accept an agency as a 
lecturer for the Anti-slavery Society, and at once be- 
came one of the most valuable of its advocates. He 
visited England in 1845. There he was kindly re- 
ceived, and heartily welcomed ; and after going 
through the length and breadth of the land, and 
addressing public meetings out of number on behalf 
of his countrymen in chains, with a power of elo- 
quence which captivated his auditors, and brought the 
cause which he pleaded home to their hearts, he re- 
turned home and commenced the publication of the 
North Star, a weekly newspaper devoted to the advo- 
cacy of the cause of freedom. 

Mr. Douglass is tall and well made. His vast and 
fully-developed forehead shows at once that he is a su- 
perior man intellectually. He is polished in his lan- 
guage, and gentlemanly in his manners. His voice is 
full and sonorous. His attitude is dignified, and his 
gesticulation is full of noble simplicity. He is a 
man of lofty reason ; natural, and without preten- 
sion ; always master of himself; brilliant in the art of 
exposing and abstracting. Few persons can handle a 
subject, with which they are familiar, better than he. 
There is a kind of eloquence issuing from the depth 
of the soul as from a spring, rolling along its copious 
floods, sweeping all before it, overwhelming by its 



FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 183 

very force, carrying, upsetting, ingulfing its adver- 
saries, and more dazzling and more thundering than 
the bolt which leaps from crag to crag. This is the 
eloquence of Frederick Douglass. One of the best 
mimics of the age, and possessing great dramatic 
powers, had he taken up the sock and buskin, instead 
of becoming a lecturer, he would have made as fine a 
Coriolanus as ever trod the stage. 

In his splendidly conceived comparison of Mr. 
Douglass to S. R. "Ward, written for the " Autographs 
for Freedom," Professor William J. Wilson says of the 
former, " In his very look, his gesture, his whole 
manner, there is so much of genuine, earnest elo- 
quence, that they leave no time for reflection. Now 
you are reminded of one rushing down some fearful 
steep, bidding you follow ; now on some delightful 
stream, still beckoning you onward. In either case, 
no matter what your prepossessions or oppositions, 
you, for the moment at least, forget the justness or 
unjustness of his cause, and obey the summons, and 
loath, if at all, you return to your former post. Not 
always, however, is he successful in retaining you. 
Giddy as you may be with the descent you have made, 
delighted as you are with the pleasure afforded, with 
the Elysium to which he has wafted you, you return 
too often dissatisfied with his and your own impetu- 
osity and want of firmness. You feel that you had 
only a dream, a pastime, — not a reality. 

" This great power of momentary captivation con- 
sists in his eloquence of manners, his just apprecia- 
tion of words. In listening to him, your whole soul 
is fired, every nerve strung, every passion inflated, 
and every faculty you possess ready to perform at a 



184 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

moment's bidding. You stop not to ask why or where- 
fore. 'Tis a unison of mighty yet harmonious sounds 
that play upon your imagination ; and you give your- 
self up, for a time, to their irresistible charm. At 
last, the cataract which roared around you is hushed, 
the tornado is passed, and you find yourself sitting 
upon a bank, (at whose base roll but tranquil waters,) 
quietly asking yourself why, amid such a display of 
power, no greater effect had really been produced. 
After all, it must be admitted there is a power in Mr. 
Douglass rarely to be found in any other man." 

As a speaker, Frederick Douglass has had more imi- 
tators than almost any other American, save, perhaps, 
Wendell Phillips. Unlike most great speakers, he is 
a superior writer also. Some of his articles, in point 
of ability, will rank with any thing ever written for 
the American press. He has taken lessons from the 
best of teachers, amid the homeliest realities of life ; 
hence the perpetual freshness of his delineations, 
which are never over-colored, never strained, never 
aiming at difficult or impossible effects, but which 
always read like living transcripts of experience. 
The following from his pen, on " What shall be done 
with the slaves, if emancipated ? " is characteristic of 
his style. 

" What shall be done with the four million slaves, 
if they are emancipated ? This question has been 
answered, and can be answered in many ways. Pri- 
marily, it is a question less for man than for God — 
less for human intellect than for the laws of nature to 
solve. It assumes that nature has erred ; that the 
law of liberty is a mistake ; that freedom, though a 
natural want of the human soul, can only be enjoyed 



FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 185 

at the expense of human welfare, and that men are 
better off in slavery than they would or could be in 
freedom ; that slavery is the natural order of human 
relations, and that liberty is an experiment. What 
shall be done with them ? 

'/ Our answer is, Do nothing with them / mind your 
business, and let them mind theirs. Your doing with 
them is their greatest misfortune. They have been 
undone by your doings, and all they now ask, and 
really have need of at your hands, is just to let them 
alone. They suffer by every interference, and succeed 
best by being let alone. The negro should have been 
let alone in Africa — let alone when the pirates and 
robbers offered him for sale in our Christian slave 
markets (more cruel and inhuman than the Moham- 
medan slave markets) — let alone by courts, judges, 
politicians, legislators, and slave-drivers — lot alone 
altogether, and assured that they were thus to be let 
alone forever, and that they must now make their own 
way in the world, just the same as any and every other 
variety of the human family. As colored men, we 
only ask to be allowed to do with ourselves, subject 
only to the same great laws for the welfare of human 
society which apply to other men — Jews, Gentiles, 
Barbarian, Scythian. Let us stand upon our own legs, 
work with our own hands, and eat bread in the sweat 
of our own brows. When you, -our white fellow- 
countrymen, have attempted to do any thing for us, 
it has generally been to deprive us of some right, 
power, or privilege, which you yourselves would die 
before you would submit to have taken from you. 
When the planters of the West Indies used to attempt 
to puzzle the pure-minded Wilberforce with the ques- 
16* 



186 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

tion, 'How shall we get rid of slavery?' his sin pie 
answer was, ' Quit stealing.' In like manner we an- 
swer those who are perpetually puzzling their brains 
with questions as to what shall be done with the negro, 
' Let him alone, and mind your own business.' If you 
see him ploughing in the open field, levelling the forest, 
at work with a spade, a rake, a hoe, a pickaxe, or a 
bill — let him alone; he has a right to work. If you 
see him on his way to school, with spelling-book, geog- 
raphy, and arithmetic in his hands — let him alone. 
Don't shut the door in his face, nor bolt your gates 
against him ; he has a right to learn — let him alone. 
Don't pass laws to degrade him. If he has a ballot in 
his hand, and is on his way to the ballot-bos to deposit 
his vote for the man who, he thinks, will most justly 
and wisely administer the government which has the 
power of life and death over him, as well as others — 
let him alone ; his right of choice as much deserves 
respect and protection as your own. If you see him 
on his way to church, exercising religious liberty in 
accordance with this or that religious persuasion — let 
him alone. Don't meddle with him, nor trouble your- 
selves with any questions as to what shall be done 
with him. 

" What shall be done with the negro, if emancipat- 
ed ? Deal justly with him. He is a human being, 
capable of judging between good and evil, right and 
wrong, liberty and slavery, and is as much a subject 
of law as any other man ; therefore, deal justly with 
him. He is, like other men, sensible of the motives 
of reward and punishment. Give him wages for his 
work, and let hunger pinch him if he don't work. 
He knows the difference between fulness and famine, 



CHARLES L. REASON. 137 

plenty and scarcity. « But will he work ? ' Why 
should he not ? He is used to it, and is not afraid of 
it. His hands are already hardened by toil, and he 
has no dreams of ever getting a living by any other 
means than by hard work. ' But would you turn 
them all loose ? ' Certainly ! We are no better than 
our Creator. He has turned them loose, and why 
should not we ? ' But would you let them all stay 
here ? ' Why not? What better is here than there? 
Will they occupy more room as freemen than as 
slaves ? Is the presence of a black freeman less 
agreeable than that of a black slave ? Is an object 
of your injustice and cruelty a more ungrateful sight 
than one of your justice and benevolence ? You have 
borne the one more than two hundred years — can't 
you bear the other long enough to try the experi- 
ment ? " 



CHARLES L. REASON. 

Professor C. L. Reason has for many years been 
connected with the educational institutions of New 
York and Philadelphia. In 1849, he was called to 
the professorship of Mathematics and Belles Lettres in 
New York Central College. This situation he held 
during his own pleasure, with honor to himself and 
benefit to the students. A man of fine education, 
superior intelligence, gentlemanly in every sense of 
the term, of excellent discrimination, one of the best 
of students, Professor Reason holds a power over those 
under him seldom attained by men of his profession. 



188 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Were I a sculptor, and looking for a model of a per- 
fect man in personal appearance, my selection wouk 1 
be Charles L. Reason. As a writer of both prose and 
poetry he need not be ashamed of his ability. Ex- 
tremely diffident, he seldom furnishes any thing for 
the public r eye. In a well-written essay on the pro- 
priety of establishing an industrial college, and the 
probable influence of the free colored people upon the 
emancipated blacks, he says, " Whenever emancipation 
shall take place, immediate though it be, the subjects 
of it, like many who now make up the so-called free 
population, will' be, in what geologists call, the 'tran- 
sition state.' The prejudice now felt against them 
for bearing on their persons the brand of slaves, cannot 
die out immediately. Severe trials will still be their 
portion : the curse of a ' taunted race,' must be ex- 
piated by almost miraculous proofs of advancement ; 
and some of these miracles must be antecedent to the 
great day of jubilee. To fight the battle upon the 
bare ground of abstract principles will fail to give us 
complete victory. The subterfuges of pro-slavery self- 
ishness must now be dragged to light, and the last 
weak argument, that the negro can never contrib- 
ute any thing to advance the national character, 
' nailed to the counter as base coin.' To the con- 
quering of the difficulties heaped up in the patli of 
his industry, the free colored man of the north has 
pledged himself. Already he sees, springing into 
growth, from out his foster work-school, intelligent 
young laborers, competent to enrich the world with 
necessary products ; industrious citizens, contributing 
their proportion to aid on the advancing civilization 
of the country ; self-providing artisans, vindicating 



CHARLES L. REASON. 189 

their people from the never-ceasing charge of fitness 
for servile positions." In the " Autographs for Free- 
dom," from which the above extract is taken, Profess* 
or Reason has a beautiful poem, entitled " Hope and 
Confidence," which, in point of originality and nicety 
of composition, will give it a place with the best pro- 
ductions of Wordsworth. 

A poem signifies design, method, harmony, and 
therefore consistency of parts. A man may be gifted 
with the most vividly ideal nature ; he may shoot 
from his brain some blazing poetic thought or imagery, 
which may arouse wonder and admiration, as a comet 
does ; and yet he may have no constructiveness, with- 
out which the materials of poetry are only so many 
glittering fractions. A poem can never be tested by 
its length or brevity, but by the adaptation of its parts. 
A complete poem is the architecture of thought and 
language. It requires artistic skill to chisel rough 
blocks of marble into as many individual forms of 
beauty ; but not only skill, but genius, is needed to ar- 
range and harmonize those forms into the completeness 
of a Parthenon. A grave popular error, and one de- 
structive of personal usefulness, and obstructive to 
literary progress, is the free-and-easy belief that be- 
cause a man has the faculty of investing common 
things with uncommon ideas, therefore he can write 
a poem. 

The idea of poetry is to give pleasurable emotions, 
and the world listens to a poet's voice as it listens to 
the singing of a summer bird ; that which is the 
most suggestive of freedom and eloquence being the 
most admired. Professor Reason has both the genius 
and the artistic skill. We regret that we are able to 



190 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

give only the last two verses of " Hope and Con 
fidence." 

" There's nothing so lovely and bright below, 
As the shapes of the purified mind ; 
Nought surer to which the weak heart can grow, 
On which it can rest as it onward doth go, 
Than that Truth which its own tendrils bind. 

" Yes, Truth opes within a pure sun-tide of bliss, 

And shows in its ever calm flood 
A transcript of regions where no darkness is, 
Where Hope its conceptions may realize, 

And Confidence sleep in the good." 



CHARLOTTE L . FORTEN. 

In the autumn of 1854, a young colored lady of 
seventeen summers, unable to obtain admission into 
the schools of her native city (Philadelphia) on ac- 
count of her complexion, removed to Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, where she at once entered the Higginson 
Grammar School. Here she soon secured the respect 
and esteem of the teachers and her fellow-pupils. 
Near the end of the last term, the principal of the 
establishment invited the scholars to write a poem 
each, to be sung at the last day's examination, and at 
the same time expressing the desire that the authors 
should conceal their names. As might have been ex- 
pected, this drew out all the poetical genius of the 
young aspirants. Fifty or more manuscripts were sent 



CHARLOTTE L. FORTEN. 191 

in, and one selected, printed on a neat sheet, and cir- 
culated through the vast audience who were present. 
The following is the piece : — 

A PARTING HYMN. 

When Winter's royal robes of white 

From hill and vale are gone, 
And the glad voices of the spring 

Upon the air are borne, 
Friends, who have met with us before, 
Within these walls shall meet no more. 

Forth to a noble work they go : 

0, may their hearts keep pure, 
And hopeful zeal and strength be theirs 

To labor and endure, 
That they an earnest faith may prove 
By words of truth and deeds of love. 

May those, whose holy task it is 

To guide impulsive youth, 
Fail not to cherish in their souls 

A reverence for truth ; 
For teachings which the lips impart 
Must have their source within the heart. 

May all who suffer share their love — 

The poor and the oppressed ; 
So shall the blessing of our God 

Upon their labors rest. 
And may we meet again where all 
Are blest and freed from every thrall. 



192 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

The announcement that the successful competitor 
would be called out at the close of the singing, created 
no little sensation amongst the visitors, to say nothing 
of the pupils. 

The principal of the school, after all -parties had 
taken their seats, mounted the platform, and said, 
" Ladies and gentlemen, the beautiful hymn just sung 
is the composition of one of the students of this school, 
but who the talented person is I am unaware. Will 
the author step forward ? " A moment's silence, and 
every eye was turned in the direction of the principal, 
who, seeing no one stir, looked around with a degree 
of amazement. Again he repeated, " Will the author 
of the hymn step forward ? " A movement now among 
the female pupils showed that the last call had been 
successful. The buzzing and whispering throughout 
the large hall indicated the intense interest felt by all. 
" Sit down ; keep your seats," exclaimed the principal, 
as the crowd rose to their feet, or bent forward to catch 
a glimpse of the young lady, who had now reached the 
front of the platform. Thunders of applause greeted 
the announcement that the distinguished authoress 
then before them was Miss Charlotte L. Forten. Her 
finely-chiselled features, well-developed forehead, coun- 
tenance beaming with intelligence, and her dark com- 
plexion, showing her identity with an oppressed and 
injured race, all conspired to make the scene an excit- 
ing one. The audience was made up in part of some of 
the most aristocratic people in one of the most aristo- 
cratic towns in America. The impression left upon 
their minds was great in behalf of the race thus so 
nobly represented by the granddaughter ot the noble- 
hearted, brave, generous, and venerable James Forten, 



CHARLOTTE L. FORTEN. 193 

whose whole life was a vindication of the character of 
his race. 

" Tis the mind that makes the body rich ; 
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, 
So honor peereth in the meanest habit." 

For several days after the close of the school, the 
name of Charlotte L. Forten was mentioned in all the 
private circles of Salem ; and to imitate her was the 
highest aspiration of the fairest daughters of that 
wealthy and influential city. Miss Forten afterwards 
entered the State Normal School, where, in the lan- 
guage of the Salem Register, " she graduated with de- 
cided eclat." She was tnen appointed by the school 
committee to be a teacher in the Epes Grammar School, 
where she " was graciously received," says the same 
journal, " by parents of the district, and soon endeared 
herself to the pupils under her charge." These pupils 
were all white. Aside from having a finished educa- 
tion, Miss Forten possesses genius of a high order. 
An excellent student and a lover of books, she has a 
finely-cultivated mind, well stored with incidents drawn 
from the classics. She evinces talent, as a writer, for 
both prose and poetry. The following extracts from 
her " Glimpses of New England," published in the 
National Anti- Slavery Standard, are characteristic of 
her prose. " The Old Witch House," at Salem, is thus 
described : — 

" This street has also some interesting associations. 
It contains a very great attraction for all lovers of the 
olden time. This is an ancient, dingy, yellow frame 
house, known as " The Old Witch House." Our read- 
ers must know that Salem was, two hundred years ago, 
the headquarters of the witches. And this is the veri- 
17 



194 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

table old Court House where the so-called witches weie 
tried and condemned. It is wonderful with what force 
this singular delusion possessed the minds, not only of 
the poor and ignorant, but of the wisest and gravest 
of the magistrates appointed by his majesty's govern- 
ment. 

" Those were dark days for Salem. "Woe to the house- 
wife or the household over whose door latch the protect- 
ing horseshoe was not carefully placed ; and far greater 
woe to the unlucky dame who chanced to be suspected 
of such fanciful freaks as riding through the air on a 
broomstick, or muttering mystic incantations where- 
with to undo her innocent neighbors. Hers was a 
summary and terrible punishment. Well, it is very 
pleasant to think how times have changed, and to say 
with Whittier, — 

' Our witches are no longer old 
And wrinkled beldams, Satan-sold, 
But young, and gay, and laughing creatures, 
"With the heart's sunshine on their features.' 

Troops of such witches now pass the old house every 
day. I grieve to say that the ' Old Witch House ' has 
recently been defaced and desecrated by the erection of 
an apothecary's shop in front of one of its wings. 
People say that the new shop is very handsome ; but to 
a few of us, lovers of antiquity, it seems a profanation, 
and we can see no beauty in it." 

The hills in the vicinity of Salem are beautifully 
pictured. " The pure, bracing air, the open sky," and 
the sheet of water in the distance, are all brought in 
with their lights and shades. Along with the bril- 
liancy of style and warmth of imagination which char- 
acterize her writings, we find here and there gravity 



CHARLOTTE L. FORTEN. 195 

of thought and earnestness of purpose, befitting her 
literary taste. Of Marblehead Beach she writes, — 

" The beach, which is at some distance from the town, 
is delightful. It was here that I first saw the sea, and 
stood ' entranced in silent awe,' gazing upon the 
waves as they marched, in one mass of the richest 
green, to the shore, then suddenly broke into foam, 
white and beautiful as the winter snow. I remember 
one pleasant afternoon which I spent with a friend, 
gathering shells and seaweed on the beach, or sitting 
on the rocks, listening to the wild music of the waves, 
and watching the clouds of spray as they sprang high 
up in the air, then fell again in snowy wreaths at our 
feet. We lingered there until the sun had sunk into 
his ocean bed. On our homeward walk we passed 
Forest River, a winding, picturesque little stream, 
dotted with rocky islands. Over the river, and along 
our quiet way, the moon shed her soft and silvery light. 
And as we approached Salem, the lights, gleaming from 
every window of the large factory, gave us a cheerful 
welcome." 

She " looks on nature with a poet's eye." The visit 
to Lynn is thus given : — 

" Its chief attraction to me was ' High Rock,' on 
whose summit the pretty little dwelling of the Hutch- 
insons is perched like an eagle's„eyrie. In the distance 
this rock looks so high and steep that one marvels how 
a house could ever have been built upon it. At its 
foot there once lived a famous fortune-teller of the 
olden time — 'Moll Pitcher.' She at first resided in 
Salem, but afterwards removed to Lynn, where her fame 
spread over the adjoining country far and near. Whit- 
tier has made her the subject of a poem, which every 



196 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

one should read, not only for its account of the fortune- 
teller, but for its beautiful descriptions of the scenery 
around Lynn, especially of the bold promontory of 
Nahant, whose fine beach, invigorating sea air, and, 
more than all, its grand, rugged old rocks, — the grand- 
est I have ever seen, — washed by the waves of old 
Ocean, make it the most delightful of summer resorts." 
The gifts of nature are of no rank or color ; they 
come unbidden and unsought : as the wind awakes the 
chords of the iEolian harp, so the spirit breathes upon 
the soul, and brings to life all the melody of its being. 
The following poem recalls to recollection some of the 
beautiful yet solemn strains of Miss Landon, the gifted 
" L. E. L.," whose untimely death at Cape Coast Castle, 
some years since, carried sorrow to so many English 
hearts : — 

THE ANGEL S VISIT. 

'Twas on a glorious summer eve, — 

A lovely eve in June, — 
Serenely from her home above 

Looked down the gentle moon ; 
And lovingly she smiled on me, 

And softly soothed the pain — 
The aching, heavy pain that lay 

Upon my heart and brain. 

And gently 'mid the murmuring leaves, 
Scarce by its light wings stirred, 

Like spirit voices soft and clear, 
The night wind's song was heard ; 

In strains of music sweet and low 
It sang to me of peace ; 



CHARLOTTE L. FORTEN. 1.97 

It bade my weary, troubled soul 
Her sad complainings cease. 

For bitter thoughts had filled my breast, 

And sad, and sick at heart, 
I longed to lay me down and rest, 

From all the world apart. 
" Outcast, oppressed on earth," I cried, 

" Father, take me home ; 
0, take me to that peaceful land 

Beyond the moon-lit dome. 

" On such a night as this," methought, 

" Angelic forms are near ; 
In beauty unrevealed to us 

They hover in the air. 
mother, loved and lost," I cried, 

" Me thinks thou'rt near me now ; 
Methinks I feel thy cooling touch 

Upon my burning brow. 

" 0, guide and soothe thy sorrowing child ; 

And if 'tis not His will 
That thou shouldst take me home with thee, 

Protect and bless me still ; 
For dark and drear had been my life 

Without thy tender smile, 
Without a mother's loving care, 

Each sorrow to beguile." 



y &' 



I ceased : then o'er my senses stole 
A soothing, dreamy spell, 

And gently to my ear were borne 
The tones I loved so well ; 
17* » 



198 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENT. 

A sudden flood of rosy light 

Filled all the dusky wood, 
And, clad in shining robes of white, 

My angel mother stood. 

She gently drew me to her side, 

She pressed her lips to mine, 
And softly said, " Grieve not, my child ; 

A mother's love is thine. 
I know the cruel wrongs that crush 

The young and ardent heart ; 
But falter not ; keep bravely on, 

And nobly bear thy part. 

" For thee a brighter day's in store ; 

And every earnest soul 
That presses on, with purpose high, 

Shall gain the wished-for goal. 
And thou, beloved, faint not beneath 

The weary weight of care ; 
Daily befpre our Father's throne 

I breathe for thee a prayer. 

" I pray that pure and holy thoughts 

May bless and guard thy way ; 
A noble and unselfish life 

For thee, my child, I pray." 
She paused, and fondly bent on me 

One lingering look of love, 
Then softly said, — and passed away, — 

" Farewell ! we'll meet above." 

I woke, and still the silver moon 
In quiet beauty shone ; 



WILLIAM H. SIMPSON. 199 

And still I heard amid the leaves 
The night wind's murmuring tone ; 

But from my heart the weary pain 
Forevermore had flown ; 

I knew a mother's prayer for me 
Was breathed before the throne. 

Nothing can be more touching than Miss Forten's 
allusion to her sainted mother. In some of her other 
poems she is more light and airy, and her muse de- 
lights occasionally to catch the sunshine on its aspiring 
wings. Miss Forten is still young, yet on the sunny 
side of twenty-five, and has a splendid future before 
her. Those who know her best consider her on the 
road to fame. Were she white, America would recog- 
nize her as one of its brightest gems. 



WILLIAM H. SIMPSON. 

It is a compliment to a picture to say that it pro- 
duces the impression of the actual scene. Taste has, 
frequently, for its object works of art. Nature, many 
suppose, may be studied with propriety, but art they 
reject as entirely superficial. But what is the fact ? 
In the highest sense, art is the child of nature, and is 
most admired when it preserves the likeness of its 
parent. In Venice, the paintings of Titian, and of the 
Venetian artists generally, exact from the traveller a 
yet higher tribute, for the hues and forms around him 
constantly remind him of their works. Many of the 
citizens of Boston are often called to mention the 



200 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

names of their absent or departed friends, by looking 
upon their features, as transferred to canvas by the 
pencil and brush of William H. Simpson, the young 
colored artist. He has evidently taken Titian, Murillo, 
and Raphael for his masters. The Venetian painters 
were diligent students of the nature that was around 
them. The subject of our sketch seems to have im- 
bibed their energy, as well as learned to copy the noble 
example they left behind. The history of painters, as 
well as poets, is written in their works. The best life 
of Goldsmith is to be found in his poem of " The 
Traveller" and his novel of "The Vicar of Wake- 
field." No one views the beautiful portrait of J. P. 
Kemble, in the National Gallery in London, in the 
character of Hamlet, without thinking of Sir Thomas 
Lawrence, who executed it. The organ of color is 
prominent in the cranium of Mr. Simpson, and it is 
well developed. His portraits are admired for their 
life-like appearance, as well as for the fine delineation 
which characterizes them all. It is very easy to tran- 
scribe the emotions which paintings awaken, but it is 
no easy matter to say why a picture is so painted as 
that it must awaken certain emotions. Many persons 
feel art, some understand it, but few both feel and 
understand it. Mr. Simpson is rich in depth of feel- 
ing and spiritual beauty. His portrait of John T. 
Hilton, which was presented to the Masonic Lodge a 
few months since, is a splendid piece of art. The 
longer you look on the features, the more the picture 
looks like real life. The taste displayed in the color- 
ing of the regalia, and the admirable perspective of 
each badge of honor, shows great skill. No higher 
praise i c needed than to say that a gentleman of Bos- 



WILLIAM II. SIMPSON. 201 

ton, distinguished for his good judgment in the picture 
gallery, wishing to secure a likeness of Hon. Charles 
Sumner, induced the senator to sit to Mr. Simpson for 
the portrait ; and in this instance the artist has been 
signally successful. 

His likenesses have been so correct, that he has 
often been employed to paint whole families, where 
only one had been bargained for in the commence- 
ment. He is considered unapproachable in taking 
juvenile faces. Mr. Simpson does not aspire to any 
thing in his art beyond portrait painting. Neverthe- 
less, a beautiful fancy sketch, hanging in his studio, 
representing summer, exhibits marked ability and con- 
summate genius. The wreath upon the head, with dif- 
ferent kinds of grain interwoven, and the nicety of 
coloring in each particular kind, causes those who 
view it to regard him as master of his profession. 
Portraits of his execution are scattered over most of 
the Northern States and the Canadas. Some have 
gone to Liberia, Hayti, and California. 

Mr. Simpson is a native of Buffalo, New York, where 
he received a liberal education. But even in school, 
his early inclination to draw likenesses materially in- 
terfered with his studies. The propensity to use his 
slate and pencil in scratching down his schoolmates, 
instead of doing his sums in arithmetic, often gained 
him severe punishment. After leaving school, he was 
employed as errand boy by Matthew Wilson, Esq., the 
distinguished artist, who soon discovered young Simp- 
son's genius, and took him as an apprentice. In 1854, 
they removed to Boston, where Mr. Simpson labored 
diligently to acquire a thorough knowledge of the 
profession. Mr. Wilson stated to the writer, that he 



202 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

never had a man who was more attentive or more 
trustworthy than William H. Simpson. The colored 
artist has been working in his own studio "nearly three 
years, and has his share of public patronage. Of 
course he has many obstacles thrown in his path by 
the prejudice against him as a colored man ; but he 
long since resolved that he would reach the highest 
round in the ladder. His career may well be imitated. 

" Would you wrest the wreath of fame 

From the hand of Fate ; 
Would you write a deathless name 

With the good and great ; 
Would you bless your fellow-men, 

Heart and soul imbue 
With the holy task, — why, then 

Paddle your own canoe." 

Mr. Simpson is of small figure, unmixed in blood, 
has a rather mild and womanly countenance, firm and 
resolute eye, is gentlemanly in appearance, and intelli- 
gent in conversation. 



JEAN PIERRE BOYER. 

Jean Pierre Boter was born at Port au Prince on 
the 2d of February, 1776 ; received in Paris the ad- 
vantages of European culture ; fought under Rigaud 
against Toussaint ; and in consequence of the success 
of the latter, quitted the island. Boyer returned to 
Hayti in Leclerc's expedition : he, however, separated 
from the French general-in-chief, placed himself at 
the head of his own color, and aided in vindicating 



JEAN PIERRE BOYER. 203 

the claims of his race to freedom in the last struggle 
with the French. On the death of Dessalines, Chris- 
tophe, already master of the north, sought to take the 
south out of the hands of Petion. Boyer assisted his 
fellow-mulatto in driving off the black general. This 
act endeared him to the former. Gratitude, as well 
as regard to the common interest, gave Boyer the 
president's chair, on the death of Petion. Eaised to 
that dignity, he employed his power and his energies to 
complete those economical and administrative reforms 
with which he had already been connected under his 
predecessor. To labor for the public good was the 
end of his life. In this worthy enterprise he was 
greatly assisted, no less by his knowledge than his 
moderation. Well acquainted with the character of 
the people that he was called to govern, conversant 
with all the interests of the state, he had it in his 
power to effect his purpose by mild as well as judicious 
measures. Yet were the wounds deep which he had 
to heal ; and he could accomplish in a brief period 
only a small part of that which it will require genera- 
tions to carry to perfection. At the death of Chris- 
tophe, in 1820, Boyer was proclaimed president of the 
north and south. In 1822, the Spanish part of the 
island, with its own accord, joined the republic; and 
thus, from Cape Tiburn to Cape Engano, Hayti was 
peacefully settled under one government, with Boyer 
at its head. At length, in 1825, after the recognition 
of Hayti by others, the French, under Charles X., sold 
to its inhabitants the rights which they had won by 
their swords, for the sum of one hundred and fifty 
millions of francs, to be paid as an indemnity to the 
old planters. The peace with France created a more 



^1 



204 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

fraternal feeling between the two countries, and Hayti 
now began to regain her ancient commercial advan- 
tages, and every thing seemed prosperous. In the 
year 1843, a party opposed to the president made its 
appearance, which formed itself into a conspiracy to 
overthrow the government. Seeing that he could not 
make head against it, Boyer, in disgust, took leave of 
the people in a dignified manner, and retired to Ja- 
maica, where, a few years since, he died. 

Though called a mulatto, Boyer was nearly black, 
and his long residence in Europe gave him a polish in 
manners foreign to the island. He was a brave man, 
a good soldier, and proved himself a statesman of no 
ordinary ability. When he came into power, the moun- 
tains were filled with Maroons, headed by a celebrated 
chief named v ~Gomar. Regaud and Petion had tried 
in vain to rid the country of these brigands. Boyer 
soon broke up their strongholds, dispersed them, and 
finally destroyed or brought them all under subjection. 
By his good judgment, management, and humanity, 
he succeeded in uniting the whole island under one 
government, and gained the possession of what Chris- 
tophe had exhausted himself with efforts to obtain, and 
what Petion had sighed for, without daring to cherish 
a single hope that its attainment could be accomplished. 
Boyer was blameless in his private life. 



JAMES m'cune smith. 205 



JAMES M'CUNE SMITH, M. D. 

Unable to get justice done him in the educational 
institutions of his native country, James M'Cune 
Smith turned his face towards a foreign land. Ho 
graduated with distinguished honors at the University 
of Glasgow, Scotland, where he received his diploma 
of M. D. For the last twenty-five years he has been a 
practitioner in the city of New York, where he stands 
at the head of his profession. On his return from Eu- 
rope, the doctor was warmly welcomed by his fellow- 
citizens, who were anxious to pay due deference to 
his talents ; since which time, he has justly been es- 
teemed among the leading men of his race on the 
American continent. When the natural ability of the 
negro was assailed, some years ago, in New York, 
Dr. Smith came forward as the representative of the 
black man, and his essays on the comparative anatomy 
and physiology of the races, read in the discussion, 
completely vindicated the character of the negro, and 
placed the author among the most logical and scien- 
tific writers in the country. 

The doctor has contributed many valuable papers 
to the different journals published by colored men 
during the last quarter of a century. The New York 
dailies have also received aid from him during the 
same period. History, antiquity, bibliography, trans- 
lation, criticism, political economy, statistics, — almost 
every department of knowledge, — receive emblazon 
from his able, ready, versatile, and unwearied pen. 
The emancipation of the slave, and the elevation of 
18 



206 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the free colored people, has claimed the greatest share 
of his time as a writer. The following, from the 
doctor, will give but a poor idea of his style : — 

" FREEDOM LIBERTY. 

" Freedom and liberty are not synonyms. Freedom 
is an essence ; liberty, an accident. Freedom is born 
within man ; liberty may be conferred on him. Free- 
dom is progressive ; liberty is circumscribed. Freedom 
is the gift of God ; liberty, the creature of society. 
Liberty may be taken away from man ; but on what- 
soever soul freedom may alight, the course of that 
soul is thenceforth onward and upward ; society, cus- 
toms, laws, armies, are but as withes in its giant 
grasp, if they oppose — instruments to work its will, 
if they assent. Human kind welcome the birth of a 
free soul with reverence and shoutings, rejoicing in 
the advent of a fresh offshoot of the divine whole, 
of which this is but a part 

His article in the Anglo- African Magazine, on 
" Citizenship," is one of the most logical arguments 
ever written in this country upon that subject. In 
the same journal, Dr. Smith has an essay on " The 
Fourteenth Query of Thomas Jefferson's Notes on 
Virginia," not surpassed by any thing which we have 
seen. These are the result of choice study, of nice 
observation, of fine feeling, of exquisite fancy, of con- 
summate art, and the graceful tact of the scholar. 
Space will not allow us to select the many choice bits 
that we could cull from the writings of James M'Cune 
Smith. 



BISHOP PAYNE. 207 

The law of labor is equally binding on genius and 
mediocrity. The mind and body rarely visit this 
earth of ours so exactly fitted to each other, and so 
perfectly harmonizing together, as to rise without 
effort, and command in the affairs of men. It is not 
in the power of every one to become great. No great 
approximation, even toward that which is easiest at- 
tained, can ever be accomplished without the exercise 
of much thought and vigor of action ; and thus is 
demonstrated the supremacy of that law which gives 
excellence only when earned, and assigns to labor its 
unfailing reward. 

It is this energy of character, industry, and labor, 
combined "with great intellectual powers, which has 
given Dr. Smith so much influence in New York. As 
a speaker, he is eloquent, and, at times, brilliant, but 
always clear and to the point. In stature, the doctor 
is not tall, but thick, and somewhat inclined to corpu- 
lency. He has a fine and well-developed head, broad 
and lofty brow, round, full face, firm mouth, and 
an eye that dazzles. In blood, he appears to be rather 
more Anglo-Saxon than African. 



BISHOP PAYNE 



Teacher of a small school at Charleston, South 
Carolina, in the year 1834, Daniel A. Payne felt the 
oppressive hand of slavery too severely upon him, and 
he quitted the southern Sodom and came north. 
After going through a regular course of theological 
studies at Gettysburg Seminary, he took up his resi- 



208 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

dence at Baltimore, where he soon distinguished him- 
self as a preacher in the African Methodist denomina- 
tion. He was several years since elected bishop, and 
is now located in the State of Ohio. 

Bishop Payne is a scholar and a poet ; having pub- 
lished, in 1850, a volume of his productions, which 
created considerable interest for the work, and gave 
the author a standing among literary men. His writ- 
ings are characterized by sound reasoning and logical 
conclusions, and show that he is well read. The 
bishop is devotedly attached to his down-trodden race, 
and is constantly urging upon them self-elevation. 
After President Lincoln's interview with the com- 
mittee of colored men at Washington, and the coloni- 
zation scheme recommended to them, and the appear- 
ance of Mr. Pomeroy's address to the free blacks, 
Bishop Payne issued the following note of advice, 
which was published in the Weekly Anglo- African : — 

" To the Colored People of the United States. 

" Men, Brethren, Sisters : A crisis is upon us 
which no one can enable us to meet, conquer, and 
convert into blessings for all concerned, but that God 
who builds up one nation and breaks down another. 

" For more than one generation, associations of white 
men, entitled Colonization Societies, have been en- 
gaged in plans and efforts for our expatriation ; these 
have been met sometimes by denunciations, sometimes 
by ridicule, often by argument ; but now the Ameri- 
can government lias assumed the work and responsi- 
bility of colonizing us in some foreign land within the 
torrid zone, and is now maturing measures to consum- 
mate this scheme of expatriation. 



BISHOP PAYNE. 209 

" But let us never forget that there is a vast diffeience 
between voluntary associations of men and the legally- 
constituted authorities of a country ; while the former 
may be held in utter contempt, the latter must always 
be respected. To do so is a moral and religious, as 
well as a political duty. 

" The opinions of the government are based upon 
the ideas, that white men and colored men cannot live 
together as equals in the same country ; and that un- 
less a voluntary and peaceable separation is effected 
noiv, the time must come ivhen there will be a war of 
extermination between the two races. 

" Now, in view of these opinions and purposes of 
the government, what shall we do ? My humble ad- 
vice is, before all, and first of all, — even before we 
say yea or nay, — let us seek from the mouth of God. 
Let every heart be humbled, and every knee bent in 
prayer before him. Throughout all this land of our 
captivity, in all this house of our bondage, let our 
cries ascend perpetually to Heaven for aid and direction. 

" To your knees, I say, ye oppressed and enslaved 
ones of this Christian republic, to your knees, and be 
there. 

" Before the throne of God, if nowhere else, the 
black man can meet his white brother as an equal, and 
be heard. 

" It has been said that he is the God of the white 
man, and not of the black. This is horrible blas- 
phemy — a lie from the pit that is bottomless — believe 
it not — no — never. Murmur not against the Lord 
on account of the cruelty and injustice of man. His 
almighty arm is already stretched out against sla- 
very — against every man, every constitution, and every 
18* 



210 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

union that upholds it. His avenging chariot is now 
moving over the bloody fields of the doomed south, 
crushing beneath its massive wheels the very founda- 
tions of the blasphemous system. Soon slavery shall 
sink like Pharaoh — even like that brazen-hearted 
tyrant, it shall sink to rise no more forever. 

" Haste ye, then, 0, hasten to your God ; pour the 
sorrows of your crushed and bleeding hearts into his 
sympathizing bosom. It is true that ' on the side of 
the oppressor there is power ' - — the power of the purse 
and the power of the sword. That is terrible. But 
listen to what is still more terrible : on the side of the 
oppressed there is the strong- arm of the Lord, the 
Almighty God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob — 
before his redeeming power the two contending ar- 
mies, hostile to each other, and hostile to you, are like 
chaff before the whirlwind. 

" Fear not, but believe. He who is for you is more 
than they who are against you. Trust in him — hang 
upon his arm — go, hide beneath the shadow of his 
wings. 

" God ! Jehovah-jireh ! wilt thou not hear us ? 
"We are poor, helpless, unarmed, despised. Is it not 
time for thee to hear the cry of the needy — to judge 
the poor of the people — to break in pieces the op 
pressor. 

" Be, 0, be unto us what thou wast unto Israel in 
the land of Egypt, our Counsellor and Guide — oui 
Shield and Buckler — our Great Deliverer — our Pit 
lar of cloud by day — our Pillar of fire by night! 

" Stand between us and our enemies, thou angel 
of the Lord! Be unto us a shining light — to our 
enemies, confusion and impenetrable darkness. Stand 



WILLIAM STILL. 211 

between us till this Red Sea be crossed, and thy re- 
deemed, now sighing, bleeding, weeping, shall shout 
and sing, for joy, the bold anthem of the free." 

A deep vein of genuine piety pervades nearly all 
the productions of Bishop Payne. As a pulpit orator, 
he stands deservedly high. In stature, he is rather 
under the medium size, about three fourths African, 
rather sharper features than the average of his race, 
and appears to be about fifty years of age. He is very 
popular, both as a writer and a speaker, with his own 
color. The moral, social, and political standard of 
the black man has been much elevated by the influ- 
ence of Bishop Payne. 



WILLIAM STILL 



The long connection of Mr. Still with the anti-slavery 
office, in a city through which fugitive slaves had to 
pass in their flight from bondage, and the deep inter- 
est felt by him for the freedom and general welfare of 
his race, have brought him prominently before the pub- 
lic. It would not be good policy to say how many 
persons passed through his hands while on their way 
to the north or the British dominions, even if we knew. 
But it is safe to say that no man has been truer to the 
fleeing slave than he. In the first town where I 
stopped in Canada, while on a visit there a year since, 
I took a walk through the market one Saturday morn- 
ing, and saw a large sprinkling of men and women 
who had escaped from the south. As soon as it was 



212 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

understood that I was from " the States," I was sur- 
rounded and overwhelmed with inquiries about places 
and persons. A short, stout, fnll-faced, energetically 
talking woman, looking me fairly in the eyes, said, 
" Were you ever in Philadelphia, sonny ? " I an- 
swered that I had been there. " Did you know Mr. 
Still ? " " Yes," said I : "do you know him ? " " God 
love your heart ! I reckon I does. He put me fru dat 
city on a swingin' limb, dat he did. Ah ! he's a man 
dat can be depended on." This was only the opening ; 
for as soon as it was known that I was well acquainted 
with William Still, the conversation turned entirely 
upon him, and I was surprised to see so many before 
me whom he had assisted. And though there were 
some present who complained of other Underground 
Railroad conductors, not a single word was uttered 
against Mr. Still ; but all united in the strongest praise 
of him. In every town that I visited during a stay of 
ten weeks in Canada, I met persons who made feeling 
inquiries after him, and I was glad to find that all re- 
garded him as a benefactor. Mr. Still is well educated, 
has good talents, and has cultivated them. He is an 
interesting and forcible writer, and some of the stories 
of escaped slaves, which he has contributed to the 
press, will challenge criticism. A correspondent of 
one of the public journals sent the following account 
to his paper of an interview which he had with Mr. 
Still the day previous : — 

" We sat down to talk. . The ultimate destiny of the 
black man was discussed, our host opening that his 
struggle for a habitation and a name must be in Amer- 
ica. He said that his people were attached to the 
republic, notwithstanding many disadvantages imposed 



WILLIAM STILL. 213 

upon them, their hope being strong that patience and 
good citizenship would eventually soften the prejudices 
of the whites. Tempered as they were to our habits 
and climate, it would be cruel to place them on a strand 
but dimly known, where, surrounded by savages, they 
might become savage themselves. 

" There was to us a sincere pleasure in our host's 
discourse. He is one of the leading public men among 
his people, and has much of the ease and polish pecu- 
liar to the well-bred Caucasian. He laughed at times, 
but never boisterously, and in profounder moments 
threw a telling solemnity into his tone and expression. 
When the head was averted, we heard, in well-modu- 
lated speech, such vigorous sentences and thoughtful 
remarks, that the identity of the speaker with the pro- 
scribed race was half forgotten ; but the biased eyesight 
revealed only a dusky son of Ham. On a ' what-not' 
table were clustered a number of books. Most of them 
were anti-slavery publications, although there were 
several volumes of sermons, and a few philosophical 
and historical books. AVe turned the conversation to 
literature. He was well acquainted with the authors 
he had read, and ventured some criticisms, indicative 
of study. From the earnestness of the man, it seemed 
that the interests of his race were very dear to him. 

" It is but just to say, that he has passed many years 
in constant companionship with Caucasians." 

Mr. Still is somewhat tall, neat in figure and person, 
has a smiling face, is unadulterated in blood, and gen- 
tlemanly in his intercourse with society. He is now 
extensively engaged in the stove and fuel trade, keeps 
five or six men employed, and has the patronage of 
some of the first families of Philadelphia. He has the 



214 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

entire confidence of all who know and appreciate his 
moral worth and business talents. 



EDWIN M. BANNISTER. 

Edwin M. Bannister was born in the town of St. 
Andrew, New Brunswick, and lost his father when 
only six years old. He attended the grammar school 
in his native place, and received a better education 
than persons generally in his position. From early 
childhood he seems to have had a fancy for painting, 
which showed itself in the school room and at home. 
He often drew portraits of his school-fellows, and the 
master not unfrequently found himself upon the slate, 
where Edwin's success was so manifest that the like- 
ness would call forth merriment from the boys, and 
create laughter at the expense of the teacher. At the 
death of his mother, when still in his minority, he was 
put out to live with the Hon. Harris Hatch, a wealthy 
lawyer, the proprietor of a fine farm some little dis- 
tance in the country. In his new home Edwin did not 
lose sight of his drawing propensities, and though the 
family had nothing in the way of models except two 
faded portraits, kept more as relics than for their in- 
trinsic value, he nevertheless practised upon them, 
and often made the copy look more life-like than the 
original. On the barn doors, fences, and every place 
where drawings could be made, the two ancient faces 
were to be seen pictured. When the family were 
away on the Sabbath at church, the young artist would 
take possession of the old Bible, and copy its crude 



EDWIN M. BANNISTER. 215 

engravings, then replace it upon the dusty shelf, feel- 
ing an inward gratification, that, instead of satisfying 
the inclination, only gave him fresh zeal to hunt for 
new models. By the great variety of drawings which 
he had made on paper, and the correct sketches taken, 
young Bannister gained considerable reputation in the 
lawyer's family, as well as in the neighborhood. Often, 
after the household had retired at night, the dim glim- 
mer from the lean tallow candle was seen through the 
attic chamber window. It was there that the genius 
of the embryo artist was struggling for development. 
Nearly every wall in the dwelling had designs or faces 
pencilled upon it, and many were the complaints 
that the women made against the lad. At last he 
turned his steps towards Boston, with the hope tliat he 
might get a situation with a painter, never dreaming 
that his color would be a barrier to the accomplish- 
ment of such an object. Weeks were spent by the 
friendless, homeless, and penniless young man, and 
every artist had seen his face and heard his wish to 
become a painter. But visiting these establishments 
brought nothing to sustain nature, and Mr. Bannister 
took up the business of a hair-dresser, merely as a 
means of getting bread, but determined to leave it as 
soon as an opening presented itself with an artist. The 
canvas, the paint, the easel, and the pallet were 
brought in, and the hair-dressing saloon was turned 
into a studio. 

There is a great diversity of opinion with regard to 
genius, many mistaking talent for genius. ^Talent is 
strength and subtilty of mind ; genius is mental inspi- 
ration and delicacy of feeling. Talent possesses vigor 
and acuteness of penetration, but is surpassed by the 



216 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

vivid intellectual conceptions of genius. The former 
is skilful and bold, the latter aspiring and gentle. But 
talent excels in practical sagacity ; and hence those 
striking contrasts so often witnessed in the world — the 
triumph of talent through its adroit and active ener- 
gies, and the adversities of genius in the midst of its 
boundless but unattainable aspirations. 

Mr. Bannister possesses genius, which is now show- 
ing itself in his studio in Boston ; for he has long since 
thrown aside the scissors and the comb, and transfers 
the face to the canvas, instead of taking the hair from 
the head. His portraits are correct representations of 
the originals, and he is daily gaining admirers of his 
talent and taste. He has painted several pictures from 
his own designs, which exhibit his genius. " Wall 
Street at Home," represents the old gent, seated in his 
easy chair, boots off and slippers on, and intently read- 
ing the last news. The carpet with its variegated col- 
ors, the hat upon the table, the cloak thrown carelessly 
across a chair, and the pictures hanging on the walls, 
are all brought out with their lights and shades. A 
beautiful landscape, representing summer, with the 
blue mountains in the distance, the heated sky, and 
the foliage to match, is another of his pieces. It is 
indeed commendable in Mr. Bannister, that he has 
thus far overcome the many obstacles thrown in his 
way by his color, and made himself an honor to his 
race. 

Mr. Bannister is spare-made, slim, with an interest- 
ing cast of countenance, quick in his walk, and easy 
in his manners. He is a lover of poetry and the clas- 
sics, and is always hunting up some new model for his 
gifted pencil and brush. He has a picture representing 



LEONARD A. GRIMES. 217 

" Cleopatra waiting to receive Marc Antony,"' which I 
regret that I did not see. I am informed, however, that 
it is a beautifully-executed picture. Mr. Bannister has 
a good education, is often called upon to act as secre- 
tary to public meetings, and is not by any means a bad 
speaker, when on the platform. Still young, enter- 
prising, and spirited, we shall be mistaken if Edwin M. 
Bannister does not yet create a sensation in our coun- 
try as an artist. 



LEONARD A. GRIMES. 

Leonard A. Grimes is a native of Leesburg, Lou- 
don county, Va., and was born in 1815. He went to 
Washington when a boy, and was first employed in a 
butcher's shop, and afterwards in an apothecary's 
establishment. He subsequently hired himself out to 
a slaveholder, whose confidence he soon gained. Ac- 
companying his employer in some of his travels in the 
remote Southern States, young Grimes had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing the different phases of slave life ; and 
its cruelty created in his mind an early hatred to the 
institution which has never abated. He could not 
resist the appeals of the bondmen for aid in making 
their escape to a land of freedom, and consequently 
was among the first to take stock in the Underground 
Kailroad. After saving money enough by his earnings, 
he purchased a hack and horses, and became a hack- 
man in the city of Washington. In his new vocation, 
Mr. Grimes met with success, and increased his busi- 
ness until he was the owner of a number of carriages 
19 



218 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

and horses, and was considered one of the foremost 
men in his line. During all this time he never lost 
sight of the slave, and there is no telling how many he 
put on the road to Canada. A poor woman and ler 
seven children were about being carried away to the 
far south by the slave-trader. Her husband, a free 
black, sought out Leonard A. Grimes, and appealed to 
his humanity, and not in vain ; for in less than forty- 
eight hours, the hackman penetrated thirty miles into 
Virginia, and, under cover of night, brought out the 
family. The husband, wife, and little ones, a few days » 
after, breathed the free air of Canada. Mr. Grimes 
was soon suspected, arrested, tried, and sentenced to 
two years in the state prison, at Richmond. Here he 
remained ; and the close, dank air, the gloom, the high, 
dull, cold, stone walls, the heavy fetters upon his limbs, 
the entire lack of any thing external to distract his 
thoughts from his situation, all together, produced a 
feeling of depression he had never known before. It 
was at this time that Mr. Grimes " felt," as he says, 
" that great spiritual change which makes all things 
new for the soul." From that hour he became a 
preacher to his keepers, and, as far as he was allowed, 
to his fellow-prisoners. This change lightened his con- 
finement, and caused him to feel that he was sent there 
to do his Master's will. 

At the expiration of his imprisonment, Mr. Grimes 
returned to Washington, and employed himself in 
driving a furniture car, and jobbing .about the city. 
Feeling himself called to preach, 'ite underwent the 
required examination, received a license, and, without 
quitting his employment, preached as occasion offered. 
Not long after this, he removed to New Bedford, Mass., 



LEONARD A. GRIMES. 219 

where lie nsided two years. There was in Boston a 
small congregation, worshipping in a little room, but 
without a regular preacher. An invitation was ex- 
tended to Mr. Grimes to become their pastor. He 
accepted, cam - *, to Boston, and, under his ministration, 
the society increased so rapidly that a larger house was 
soon needed. A lot was purchased, the edifice begun, 
and now they have a beautiful church, capable of seat- 
ing six or seven hundred persons. The cost of the 
building, including the land, was $13,000 ; all of which, 
except $2,000, has been paid. We need not say that 
this was accomplished through the untiring exertions 
of Mr. Grimes. Besides his labors in the society, he 
was often engaged in aiding fugitive slaves in the re- 
demption of their relations from the servitude of the 
south. During his fourteen years' residence^in Boston, 
he has had $6,000 pass through his hands, for the ben- 
efit of that class of persons. In action he is always — 

" Upward, onward, pressing forward 

Till each bondman's chains shall fall, 
Till the flag that floats above us 
Liberty proclaims to all." 

Iii 1854, Mr. Grimes became conspicuously con- 
nected with the fugitive slave Anthony Burns. 
Mainly through his efforts the latter gained his 
freedom. The pastor^ of the Twelfth Baptist Church 
is, emphatically, a practical man. Nearly all public 
meetings are held either in his church or vestry, he 
taking a suitable part in every thing that tends to the 
welfare of his race. "Brother" Grimes is above the 
middle size, good looking, has a full face, a counte- 
nance which has the appearance of one who has seen 
no trouble, and rather more Anglo-Saxon than African. 



220 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

He is polite in his manners, and genteel in his personal 
appearance. As a preacher, he is considered sound, 
and well versed in theology. He is regarded as one 
of the ablest men in prayer in Boston. His sermons 
are characterized by deep feeling and good sense. No 
man in the city has fewer enemies or more friends 
than Leonard A. Grimes. 



PRESIDENT GEFFRARD. 

Fabre Gepfrard, born at Cayes, in the year 1806, 
was the son of a general who had shown himself hu- 
mane under Dessalines, and had been with Petion, one 
of the chief promoters of the constitution of 1806. Left 
early an orphan, young Geffrard entered the army at 
the age of fifteen, and only after twenty-two years' ser- 
vice obtained his captain's commission. He took part 
— unwisely, as events proved — in the revolution of 
1843, which overturned the able but indolent Boyer, 
and distinguished himself at the head of a small body 
of troops against the government forces, deceiving 
them as to his numbers by the rapidity of his move- 
ments, and as to his resources by supplying provisions 
to his famished enemies at a time when he himself was 
short of rations. "When the revolution, which had 
originated with the most impatient of the mulattoes, 
led in turn to a rising of that portion of the blacks 
who represented absolute barbarism, and whose axiom 
was that every mulatto should be exterminated, Gef- 
frard marched against and defeated the black leader, 
Arcaau ; but, true to that humanity which seems the 



PRESIDENT GEFFRARI). 221 

very basis of his character, we find him in turn defend- 
ing the middle classes from the blacks, and the insurgent 
blacks, when taken prisoners, from the National Guard. 
He became lieutenant-general during these move- 
ments ; but General Richc, who was made president in 
1846, and who" bore Geffrard a grudge for having on a 
former occasion made him a prisoner, sent him before 
a court martial, which, in Hayti, means sending one to 
death. Through the adroitness, however, of Riche's 
minister of war, the general was acquitted. The pres- 
ident of the court martial was Soulouque, who seems 
to have imbibed, on this occasion, a strange friendship 
for the man whose life he had been the means of pre- 
serving, and who thus spared him, in an otherwise un- 
accountable manner, during his subsequent rale, and 
even forced on him the title of duke, which Geffrard 
did not care to assume. In two disastrous wars which 
he undertook, in 1849 and in 1855-6, against the Do- 
minican republic, Geffrard alone won credit. In the 
former he was wounded at the head of the division ; in 
both, by his courage, his activity, his cheerfulness, and 
above all, by his anxious care for the welfare of his 
soldiers, he exhibited the most striking contrast to Sou- 
louque's imbecile generalship and brutal indifference to 
the safety of others. 

In 1858, Soulouque, seeing that Geffrard's popular- 
ity was becoming great, sought an opportunity to have 
him arrested. Spies were placed near him. The gen- 
eral, however, was warned of his danger, and he knew 
that nothing was to be hoped for from Soulouque's fe- 
rocity when once aroused by jealousy. Just then, the 
emissaries of a conspiracy, formed in the valley of the 
Artibonite, beyond the mountain chain which forms the 

19* 



222 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

backbone of the island, were in Port au Prince in search 
of a leader. They addressed themselves to Geffrard. 
The cup of Soulouque's tyranny was full. Geffrard lis- 
tened to their solicitations, but was barely able, by the 
aid of a friend, to escape in an open boat, on the very 
night when he was to have been arrested. He suc- 
ceeded in reaching St. Mark, but found that the people 
were not ready for a revolution. He repaired to Go- 
naives, where the inhabitants were thoroughly ripe for 
a change of rulers. Thus six men coming by sea, met 
by three on land, were sufficient to carry the place with- 
out the shedding of a drop of blood. On the 22d of 
December, he issued two proclamations, the one abol- 
ishing the empire, the other establishing a republic. 
From thence he proceeded to St. Mark, where he was 
enthusiastically welcomed by all classes, the army join- 
ing him to a man. With two thousand men he started 
for Port au Prince, the capital. Soulouque, in the 
mean time, gathered his forces, amounting to six thou- 
sand well-drilled troops, and set out to meet his rival, 
but soon found that his army could not be relied on, 
and he returned amid the hootings of the people. The 
emperor was permitted to take refuge in the French 
consulate, and from thence took passage in an English 
steamer for Jamaica. Geffrard entered Port au Prince 
in triumph ; the constitution of 1846 was adopted, and 
an election held which chose Geffrard president for 
life, with the privilege of nominating his successor. All 
agree that he is a good man. His great aim appears 
to be the moral, social, and intellectual improvement 
of the people. 

Most of the army have been disbanded ; and those 
retained are better fed, better paid, and clothed in a 



GEORGE B. VASHON. 223 

more suitable manner. New firearms have been intro- 
duced, reforms instituted both in the government and 
the army, agriculture and commerce encouraged, old 
roads repaired and new ones built. His state papers 
show him to be a man of superior natural abilities, and 
we believe that he is destined to do more for Hayti and 
her people than any ruler since the days of Toussaint 
L'Ouverture. Geffrard is a grief in color (nearly 
black), of middle height, slim in figure, a pleasing 
countenance, sparkling eye, gray hair, fifty-six years 
of age, limbs supple by bodily exercise, a splendid 
horseman, and liberal to the arts, even to extrava- 
gance. Possessing a polished education, he is gentle- 
manly in his conversation and manners. His demo- 
cratic ideas induce him to dress without ornaments 
of any kind. Soon after assuming the presidency, he 
resolved to encourage immigration, and issued an ad- 
dress to the colored Americans, filled with patriotic 
and sympathetic feeling for his race. 



GEORGE B. VASHON. 

Passing through the schools of Pittsburg, his na- 
tive place, and graduating at Oberlin College with the 
degree of Master of Arts, George B. Vashon started in 
life with the advantage of a good education. He 
studied law with Hon. Walter Forward, and was admit- 
ted to the bar in 1847. He soon after visited Hayti, 
where he remained nearly three years, returning home 
in 1850. Called to a professorship in New York Cen- 
tral College, Mr. Vashon discharged the duties of the 



t 

224 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

office with signal ability. A gentleman — a graduate 
of that institution, now a captain in the federal army 
— told the writer that he and several of his compan- 
ions, who had to recite to Professor Vashon, made it a 
practice for some length of time to search Greek, Latin, 
and Hebrew, for phrases and historical incidents, and 
would then question the professor, with the hope of 
" running him on a snag." " But," said he," we never 
caught him once, and we came to the conclusion that 
he was the best-read man in the college." Literature 
has a history, and few histories can compare with it in 
importance, significance, and moral grandeur. There 
is, therefore, a great price to pay for literary attain- 
ments, which will have an inspiring and liberalizing 
influence — a price not in silver and gold, but in thor- 
ough mental training. This training will give breadth 
of view, develop strength of character and a compre- 
hensive spirit, by which the ever-living expressions of 
trutli and principle in the past may be connected with 
those of a like character in the present. 

Mr. Vashon seems to have taken this view of what 
constitutes the thorough scholar, and has put his theo- 
ry into practice. All of the productions of his pen 
show the student and man of literature. But he is 
not indebted alone to culture, for he possesses genius 
of no mean order — poetic genius, far superior to many 
who have written and published volumes. As Dryden 
said of Shakspeare, " he needed not the spectacles of 
books to read Nature ; he looked inward, and found 
her there." The same excellence appertains to his 
poetical description of the beautiful scenery and cli- 
mate of Hayti, in his " Vincent Oge." His allusion to 



GEORGE B. VASHON. 225 

Columbus's first visit to the island is full of solemn 
grandeur : — 

" The waves dash brightly on thy shore, 
Fair island of the southern seas, 
As bright in joy as when, of yore, 

They gladly hailed the Genoese — 
That daring soul who gave to Spain 
A world-last trophy of her reign." 

Our limited space will not permit our giving more 
of this, or other poems of Mr. Vashon. The following 
extract from his admirable essay in the Anglo- African 
Magazine, entitled, " The Successive Advances of As- 
tronomy," is characteristic of his prose : — 

" The next important step recorded in the annals of 
astronomy was the effort to reform the calendar by 
means of the bissextile year. This effort was made at 
the time when Julius Cassar was chief pontiff at Rome. 
It is noteworthy, as being the only valuable contribu- 
tion made to astronomical science by the Romans ; and, 
even in this matter, Ceesar acted under the guidance 
of the Grecian astronomer Sosigenes. We are not to 
suppose, however, that the Romans were totally indif- 
ferent to the subject of astronomy. We are informed 
by Cicero, in his elegant treatise concerning 'Old Age,' 
that Caius Gallus was accustomed to spend whole days 
and nights in making observations upon the heavenly 
bodies, and that he took pleasure in predicting to his 
friends the eclipses of the sun and moon a long time 
before they occurred. Besides, in the ' Scipio's Dream' 
of the same author, we find, in the course of an admi- 
rable dissertation upon the immortality of the soul, an 
account of a terrestrial system, according to which our 



226 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

earth was the central body, around which the concave 
sphere of the starry heavens revolved ; while, in the 
space between, the Moon, Yenus, Mercury, the Sun, 
Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn moved with retrograde 
courses, in the order here mentioned. In fact, this 
system was the one which was afterwards adopted, 
elaborated, and zealously maintained by the famous 
Ptolemy of Alexandria, and which has ever since borne 
his name. To Ptolemy, then, who flourished about the 
commencement of the second century, the world is in- 
debted for the first complete system of astronomy that 
secured the approbation of all the learned. This it was 
enabled to do by the ingenious, although not perfect, 
explanation which it gave of the planetary movements, 
by supposing these bodies to move in circles whose 
centres had an easterly motion along an imaginary cir- 
cle. Thus these epicycles, as the circles were called, 
moving along the imaginary circle, or deferent, cause 
the planets to have, at times, an apparent easterly di- 
rection, at other times a westerly one, and at other 
times, again, to appear stationary. Thus recommend- 
ed, the Ptolemaic system continued to gain adherents, 
until the irruptions of the Huns under Alaric and At- 
tila, and the destruction of the celebrated library at 
Alexandria by the fanatical .and turbulent Christians 
of that city, laid waste the fair domains of science. 
Being thus driven from the places where Learning had 
fixed her favorite seats, it took refuge with the Arabs, 
who preserved it with watchful care, until happier 
times restored it to Europe. It returned with the con- 
quering Moors who established themselves in Spain, 
was brought again under the notice of the Christian 
states in the thirteenth century, through the patronage 



ROBERT MORRIS. 227 

of the emperor Frederic II. of Germany, and Alplionso 
X. of Castile, and flourished more than two hundred 
years longer, without any rival to dispute its claims to 
correctness." 

Mr. Vashon is of mixed blood, in stature of medium 
size, rather round face, with a somewhat solemn coun- 
tenance, — a man of few words, — needs to be drawn 
out to be appreciated. While visiting a distinguished 
colored gentleman at Rochester, N. Y., some years ago, 
the host, who happened to be a wit as well as an ora- 
tor, invited in "Professor T." — a man ignorant of 
education, but filled with big talk and high-sounding 
words without understanding their meaning — to en- 
tertain Mr. Vashon, intending it as a joke. "Professor 
T." used all the language that he was master of, but 
to no purpose : the man of letters sat still, listened, 
gazed at the former, but did not dispute any point 
raised. The uneducated professor, feeling that he had 
been imposed upon, called Mr. D. one side, and in a 
whisper said, " Are you sure that this is an educated 
man ? I fear that he is an impostor ; for I tried, but 
could not call him out." 



ROBERT MORRIS. 

About the year 1837, Ellis Gray Loring, Esq., took 
into his office, as an errand boy, a colored lad of fif- 
teen years of age. The youngster had a better educa- 
tion than those generally of his age, which showed that 
he had been attentive at school. He was not long in 
his new situation ere he began to exhibit a liking for 



228 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the contents of the sheepskin-covered books that stood 
around on the shelves, and lay upon the baize-covered 
tables. Mr. Loring, seeing the aptitude of the lad, 
inquired if he wanted to become a lawyer, and was 
answered in the affirmative. From that moment the 
errand boy became the student, and studied with an 
earnestness not often equalled. At scarcely twenty- 
one years of age he was admitted to the Boston bar. 
This was Robert Morris. With all the prejudice be- 
fore him, he kept steadily on, resolving that he would 
overcome the negro-hate which stood in the way of his 
efforts to prosecute his profession. Gradually he grew 
in practice, until most of his fellow-members forgot his 
color in the admiration of his eloquence and business 
talent. Mr. Morris is of unmixed blood, but not black. 
Small in stature, a neat figure, smiling face, always 
dressed with the greatest care, gentlemanly in manner 
and conversation, his influence has been felt in behalf 
of his race. He is an interesting speaker, quick in his 
gestures, ardent in his feelings, and enthusiastic in 
what he undertakes. He rather inclines to a military 
life, and has, on more than one occasion, attempted 
the organization of an independent company. 

At the presentation of the portrait of John T. Hilton 
to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Boston, Mr. Morris 
made a speech, of which the following is an extract : — 

" I wish we could point to well-executed likenesses 
of those old colored heroes of revolutionary memory, 
who so nobly, patriotically, and willingly, side by side 
with their white brethren, fought, bled, and died to se- 
cure freedom and independence to America. 

" It would be a source of continual pleasure could 
we have in some public room pictures true to life of 



ROBERT MORRIS. 229 

those intrepid heroes, Denmark Veazie and Nat Tur- 
ner, whose very names were a terror to oppressors ; 
who, conceiving the sublime idea of freedom for them- 
selves and their race, animated by a love of liberty of 
which they had been ruthlessly deprived, made an 
attempt to sever their bonds ; and though, in such at- 
tempts to open the prison doors of slavery and let the 
oppressed go free, they were unsuccessful, their efforts 
and determination were none the less noble and he- 
roic. In the future history of our country, their names 
to us will shine as brightly as that of the glorious old 
hero, who, with his colored and white followers, so 
strategically captured Harper's Ferry, and touched a 
chord in the life of our country that will vibrate 
throughout the land, and will not cease until the last 
fetter has been struck from the limbs of the last bond- 
man in the nation ; and though the bodies of these 
heroes lie mouldering in the clay, their souls are 
' marching on.' 

"I never visit our 'Cradle of Liberty,' and look at 
the portraits that grace its walls, without thinking that 
the selection is sadly incomplete, because the picture 
of the massacred Crispus Attucks is not there. He 
was the first martyr in the Boston massacre of March 
5, 1770, when the British soldiers were drawn up in 
line on King (now State) Street, to intimidate the 
Boston populace. On that eventful day, a band of 
patriots, led by Attucks, marched from Dock Square 
to drive the redcoats from the vicinity of the old State 
House. Emboldened by the courageous conduct of 
this colored hero, the band pressed forward, and in 
attempting to wrest a musket from one of the British 
soldiers, Attucks was* shot. His was the first blood 
20 



230 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

that crimsoned the pavement of King Street, and by 
the sacrifice of his life, he awoke that fiery hatred of 
British oppression which culminated in the declara- 
tion of American independence. At this late day a 
portrait of this hero cannot be had ; but our children 
will live to see the day when the people of this com- 
monwealth, mindful of their deep and lasting obliga- 
tion, will, through their legislature, appropriate a suffi- 
cient sum wherewith to erect a suitable monument to 
preserve the memory of Attucks, and mark the spot 
where he fell." 

Mr. Morris deserves great credit for having fought 
his way up to his present position. Rumor says that 
his profession has paid him well, and that he is now a 
man of property. If so, we are glad ; for the poet 
writes, " If thou wouldst have influence, put money in 
thy purse." 



WILLIAM J. WILSON. 

In the columns of Frederick Douglass's paper, the 
Anglo- African Magazine, and the Weekly Anglo- 
African, has appeared at times, over the signature of 
" Ethiop," some of the raciest and most amusing 
essays to be found in the public journals of this 
country. As a sketch writer of historical scenes and 
historical characters, — choosing his own subjects, sug- 
gested by his own taste or sympathies, — few men are 
capable of greater or more successful efforts than 
William J. Wilson. In his imaginary visit to the 



WILLIAM J. WILSON. 231 

" Afric-American Picture Gallery," he gives the fol- 
lowing sketch of the head of Phillis Wheatley. 

" This picture hangs in the north-east corner of the 
gallery, and in good light, and is so decidedly one of 
the finest in the collection, whether viewed in an ar- 
tistic light or in point of fact, that it is both a constant 
charm and study for me. The features, though in- 
dicative of a delicate organization, are of the most 
pleasing cast. The facial angle contains full ninety 
degrees ; the forehead is finely formed, and the brain 
large ; the nose is long, and the nostrils thin, while 
the eyes, though not large, are well set. To this may 
he added a small mouth, with lips prettily turned, and 
a chin — that perfection of beauty in the female face 
— delicately tapered from a throat and neck that are 
of themselves perfection. The whole make-up of this 
face is an index of healthy intellectual powers, com- 
bined with an active temperament, over which has 
fallen a slight tinge of religious pensiveness. Thus 
hangs Phillis Wheatley before you in the Afric-Ameri- 
can Picture Gallery ; and if we scrutinize her more 
closely through her career and her works, we shall 
find her truly an extraordinary person. Stolen at the 
tender age of seven years from the fond embraces of a 
mother, whose image never once faded from her mem- 
ory, and ferried over in the vile slave ship from Afric's 
sunny clime to the cold shores of America, and sold 
under the hammer to a Boston merchant — a delicate 
child, a girl, alone, desolate ; a chilly, dreary world 
before her, a chain on her feet, and a thorn in her 
bosom, and an iron mask on her head, what chance, 
what opportunity was there for her to make physical, 



232 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

moral, or mental progress ? In these respects, how 
get up to, or keep pace with, other and more favored 
people ? — how get in the advance ? — how ascend, at 
last, without a single competitor, the highest scale of 
human eminence ? Phillis Wheatley did all, and more 
than this. A sold thing, a bought chattel at seven 
years, she mastered, notwithstanding, the English lan- 
guage in sixteen months. She carried on with her 
friends and acquaintances an extensive and 'elegant 
epistolary correspondence at twelve years of age, com- 
posed her first poom at fourteen, became a proficient 
Latin scholar at seventeen, and published in England 
her book of poems, dedicated to the Countess of Hunt- 
ington, at nineteen; and with the mantle of just fame 
upon her shoulders, sailed from America to England 
to receive the meed due to her learning, her talents, 
and her virtues, at twenty-two. What one of Amer- 
ica's paler daughters, contemporary with her, with all 
the advantages that home, fortune, friends, and favor 
bring, — what one ascended so far up the hill of just 
fame at any age ? I have searched in vain to find the 
name upon the literary page of our country's record. 

"0 Wheatley! 
What degrading hand, what slavish chain, 
What earthly power, could link thy nobler soul 
To baser things, and check its eagle flight ? 
Angel of purity, child of beauteous song, 
Thy harp still hangs within our sight, 
To cheer, though thou art gone." 

The succeeding extract from his poem " The Com- 
ing Man " is very suggestive, especially at this time. 



WILLIAM J. WILSON. 233 

" I break the chains that have been clanging 
Down through the dim vault of ages ; 
I gird up my strength, — mind and arm, — 
And prepare for the terrible conflict. 
I am to war with principalities, powers, wrongs 
With oppressions, — with all that curse humanity. 
I am resolved. 'Tis more than half my task ; 
'Twas the great need of all my past existence. 
The glooms that have so long shrouded me, 
Recede as vapor from the new presence, 
And the light-gleam — it must be life — 
So brightens and spreads its pure rays before, 
That I read my mission as 'twere a book. 
It is life ; life in which none but men — 
Not those who only wear the form — can live 
To give this life to the World; to make men 
Out of the thews and sinews of oppressed slaves." 

Mr. Wilson is a teacher, and whether the following 
is drawn from his own experience, or not, we are left 
to conjecture. 

THE TEACHER AND HIS PUPIL. 

Scene. — School Room. School in session. 

Dramatis Persona. 

Teacher. A bachelor rising thirty. 
Pupil. A beautiful girl of sixteen. 

I see that curling and high-arched brow. 

" Scold thee ? " Ay, that I will. 

Pouting I see thee still ; 
Thou jade ! I know that thou art laughing now ! 
20* 



234 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Silence ! hush ! nor dare one word to mutter ! 

If it were e'er so gentle, 

(I speak in tone parental,) 
Do not thy very softest whisper utter. 

I know that startled trembling all a hoax, 

Thou pert and saucy thing ! 

I'll make thy fine ears ring ; 
I'll pretermit thy silly, taunting jokes. 

" Whip thee ? " Ay, that I will, and whip thee well ; 

Thy chattering tongue now hold ! 

There, there ; I will no further scold. 
How down those lovely cheeks the hot tears fell ! 

How quickly changed ! Nay, nay ; come hither, child. 

'Tis with kindness I would rule ; 

Severity's the erring fool, 
Who harms the tender or excites the wild. 

What ! trembling yet, and shy ? Nay, do not fear ; 

Sure, sure I'll harm thee not ; 

My gentlest, thine's a better lot ; 
So raise those azure eyes with radiant cheer. 

Cheer up, then ; there, now thou canst go. Retain, 

I pray, within thy heart, 

Not the unpleasant part 
That's past. The other let remain. 

To possess genius, the offspring of which ennobles 
the sentiments, enlarges the affections, kindles the 
imagination, and gives to us a view of the past, the 
present, aid the future, is one of the highest gifts 



JOHN MERCER LANGSTON. 235 

that the Creator bestows upon man. With acute 
powers of conception, a sparkling and lively fancy, 
and a quaintly curious felicity of diction, Mr. Wilson 
wakes us from our torpidity and coldness to a sense of 
our capabilities. In personal appearance he is under 
the middle size; his profile is more striking than his 
front face ; he has a rather pleasing countenance, and 
is unmixed in race ; has fine conversational powers, is 
genteel in his manners, and is a pleasant speaker upon 
the platform. 



JOHN MERCER LANGSTON. 

One of the most promising young men of the west 
is John M. Langston, a native of Chillicothe, Ohio, 
and a graduate of Oberlin College. He studied theol- 
ogy and law, and, preferring the latter, was admitted 
to the bar, and is now successfully practising his pro- 
fession. 

The end of all eloquence is to sway men. It is, 
therefore, bound by no arbitrary rules of diction or 
style, formed on no specific models, and governed by 
no edicts of self-elected judges. It is true, there are 
degrees of eloquence, and equal success does not im- 
ply equal excellence. That which is adapted to sway 
the strongest minds of an enlightened age ought to be 
esteemed the most perfect, and, doubtless, should be 
the criterion by which to test the abstract excellence 
of all oratory. Mr. Langston represents the highest 
idea of the orator, as exemplified in the power and 
discourses of Sheridan in the English House of Com- 



236 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

mons, and Vergniaud in the Assembly of the Girond 
ists. He is not fragmentary in his speeches ; but, a 
deep, majestic stream, he moves steadily onward, 
pouring forth his rich and harmonious sentences in 
strains of impassioned eloquence. His style is bold 
and energetic — full of spirit. He is profound without 
being hollow, and ingenious without being subtile. 

Being at Oberlin a few years since, and learning that 
a suit was to be tried before a justice of the peace, in 
which Langston was counsel for the defence, I attended. 
Two white lawyers — one from Elyria, the other resid- 
ing at Oberlin — were for the plaintiff. One day was 
consumed in the examination and cross-questioning of 
witnesses, in which the colored lawyer showed himself 
more than a match for his antagonists. The plaintiff's 
counsel moved an adjournment to the next day. The 
following morning the court room was full before the 
arrival of the presiding justice, and much interest was 
manifested on both sides. Langston's oratory was a 
model for the students at the college, and all who 
could leave their studies or recitations were present. 
When the trial commenced, it was observed that the 
plaintiffs had introduced a third lawyer on their side. 
This was an exhibition of weakness on their part, and 
proved the power of the " black lawyer," who stood 
single-handed and alone. The pleading commenced, 
and consumed the forenoon ; the plaintiff only being 
heard. An adjournment for an hour occurred, and 
then began one of the most powerful addresses that I 
had heard for a long time. In vigor of thought, in 
imagery of style, in logical connection, in vehemence, 
in depth, in point, and in beauty of language, Lang- 



JOHN M. LANGSTON. 237 

ston surpassed his opponents, won the admiration of 
the jury and the audience, and, what is still better for 
his credit, he gained the suit. Mr. Langston's practice 
extends to Columbus, the capital of the state, and in 
the county towns, within fifty miles of his home, he is 
considered the most successful man at the bar. 

An accomplished scholar and a good student, he 
displays in his speeches an amount of literary acquire- 
ments not often found in the mere business lawyer. 
When pleading he speaks like a man under oath, 
though without any starched formality of expression. 
The test of his success is the permanent impression 
which his speeches leave on the memory. They do 
not pass away with the excitement of the moment, but 
remain in the mind, with the lively colors and true 
proportions of the scenes which they represent. Mr. 
Langston is of medium size and of good figure, high 
and well-formed forehead, eyes full, but not promi- 
nent, mild and amiable countenance, modest deport- 
ment, strong, musical voice, and wears the air of a 
gentleman. He is highly respected by men of the 
legal profession throughout the state. He is a vigor- 
ous writer, and in the political campaigns, contributes 
both with speech and pen to the liberal cause. Few 
men in the south-west have held the black man's 
standard higher than John Mercer Langston. 



238 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



WILLIAM O. NELL. 

No man in New England has performed more un- 
compensated labor for humanity, and especially for his 
own race, than William C. Nell. Almost from the 
commencement of the Liberator, and the opening 
of an anti-slavery office in Boston, he has been con- 
nected in some way with the cause of freedom. In 
1840, Mr. Nell, in company with William Lloyd Gar- 
rison, Wendell Phillips, and Francis Jackson, signed 
a petition to the city government, asking it to grant 
equal school rights to the colored children. From that 
time till 1855, Mr. Nell lost no opportunity to press 
this question. During all this while he had to meet 
the frowns of the whites, who were instigated by that 
mean and relentless prejudice which slavery had im- 
planted in their minds ; but he went steadily on, resolv- 
ing that he would not cease till equality was acknowl- 
edged in the Boston schools. In 1855 the obnoxious 
rule was abolished, and the colored youths admitted 
to the schools, without regard to complexion. On the 
evening of December 17 of the same year, Mr. Nell 
was publicly presented with a testimonial by his fellow- 
citizens. This consisted of a valuable gold watch. 
Master Frederick Lewis, on behalf of the children, 
addressed Mr. Nell as follows : — 

" Champion of equal school rights, we hail thee. 
With unbounded gratitude we bow before thee. Our 
youthful hearts bless thee for thy incessant labors and 
untiring zeal in our behalf. We would fain assist in 
swelling thy praise, which flows from every lip ; but 



WILLIAM C. NELL. 239 

this were a tribute far too small. Noble friend : thou 
hast opened for us the gate that leadeth to rich treas- 
ures ; and as we pass through, Ambition lendeth us a 
hand — ay, she quickeneth our pace ; and as, obeying 
her, we look through the vista of future years, we 
recognize bright Fame in a field of literary glory, her 
right hand extended with laurels of honor, to crown 
those who shall be most fortunate in gaining the plat- 
form whereon she standeth ; while before her is spread 
the banquet, with viands rich and rare, that our literary 
hunger may be satiated. To this we aspire. To gain 
this we will be punctual to school, diligent in study, 
and well-behaved ; and may we be enabled to reach 
the goal, that, in thy declining years, thy heart may be 
gladdened by what thine eye beholdeth, and it shall be 
like a crown of gold encircling thy head, and like a 
rich mantle thrown around thee, studded with jewels 
and precious stones. 

" Kind benefactor : accept, we entreat thee, this 
simple token, emblem of the bright, gladsome } r ears 
of youthful innocence and purity ; and as thou hast 
befriended us, so may we ever prove faithful friends 
to thee. May the blessings of Heaven attend thee 
through life's ever-changing scenes and intricate wind- 
ings, is our prayer." 

Mrs. Georgiana 0. Smith then presented to Mr. 
Nell the watch, bearing this inscription: — 

"A Tribute to 
WILLIAM C. NELL, 

PROM THE COLORED CITIZENS OF BOSTON, 

For his untiring efforts in behalf of 

EQUAL SCHOOL IlIGHTS, 

Dec. 17, 185o." 



240 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Mrs. Smith's address was well conceived, and deliv- 
ered in an eloquent and feeling manner, which seemed 
to touch every heart and quicken every pulse. Mr. 
Nell responded in an able speech, recounting many of 
the scenes that they had passed through. William 
Lloyd Garrison and Wendell Phillips were both pres- 
ent, and addressed the meeting, showing their deep 
interest in the black man's rights. Besides contribut- 
ing occasionally to the columns of the Liberator, 
Frederick Douglass's paper, the Anglo- African, and 
other journals, Mr. Nell is the author of the " Col- 
ored Patriots of the American Revolution," a book 
filled with interesting incidents connected with the 
history of the blacks of this country, past and present. 
He has also written several smaller works, all of which 
are humanitarian in their character. He has taken a 
leading part in most of the conventions and public 
gatherings of the colored citizens, held within the 
past twenty-five years. From 1835 to 1850, no public 
meeting was complete without William C Nell as 
secretary. 

Deeply interested in the intellectual development 
and cultivation of his race, he aided in the organiza- 
tion of the " Adelphic Union Association," which did 
much good in its day. Later still, he brought into 
existence the " Histrionic Club," a society that en- 
couraged reading, recitation, and social conversation. 
In this he drew the finest talent that Boston could pro- 
duce. They gave a public representation a few years 
since, which was considered one of the most classic 
performances which has ever been witnessed. Mr. 
Nell is of medium height, slim, genteel figure, quick 
step, elastic movement, a thoughtful yet pleasant brow, 



JOHN SELLA MARTIN. 241 

thin face, and chaste in his conversation. Born in 
Boston, passing through her public schools, a good 
student, and a lover of literature, he has a cultivated 
understanding, and has collected together more facts, 
on the race with whom he is identified, than any other 
man of our acquaintance. An ardent admirer of 
Wendell Phillips, he seems as much attached to that 
distinguished orator as Boswell was to Johnson. Mr. 
Nell's devotion to his race is not surpassed by any 
man living. 



JOHN SELLA MARTIN. 

J. Sella Martin is a native of Charlotte, North 
Carolina, and was born on the 27th of September, 
1832. His mother was a slave, and by the laws of 
the state the child follows the condition of the mother. 
Young Martin sustained the double but incongruous 
relation to his owner of master and son. At the tender 
age of six years, the boy, together with his mother and 
an only sister, was taken from the old homestead at 
midnight, and carried to Columbus, Georgia, where 
they were exposed for sale. Here they were separated, 
the mother and daughter being purchased by one man, 
and Sella by another. The latter had the good for- 
tune, however, to fall into the hands of an old bachelor, 
with whom he lived, in the capacity of valet de chambre, 
until he was eighteen years old. His opportunities, 
while with him, for acquiring a knowledge of books 
and the world generally, were far better than usually 
fall to the lot of the most favored house servants. 
Both master and slave boarded at the principal hotel 
21 



242 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

in the place ; and the latter, associating with other ser- 
vants, and occasionally meeting travellers from the 
free states, obtained much valuable information re- 
specting the north and Canada, and his owner was not 
a little surprised one day when a complaint came 
to him that his servant had been furnishing passes 
for slaves in the neighborhood to visit their wives. 
Sella was called before the master, and threatened with 
severe punishment if he ever wrote another pass for a 
slave. About two years after this, the owner partially 
lost his sight, and the servant became first the reader 
of the morning paper, and subsequently the amanuen- 
sis in the transaction of all the master's business. An 
intimacy sprang up between the two, and it being for 
the white man's interest that his chattel should read 
and write correctly, the latter became in fact the pupil 
of the former, which accelerated his education. At 
the age of eighteen his owner died, and Sella was left 
free. But the influence of the heirs at law was suffi- 
cient to set the will aside, and the free young man, to- 
gether with other slaves of the estate, was sold on the 
auction block, and the new owner took Sella to Mobile, 
where he resided till 1852, when he was again sold and 
taken to New Orleans. Here the subject of our sketch 
hired his own time, became a dealer in fruit and oys- 
ters, and succeeded in saving a little money for him- 
self, with which he made his escape on a Mississippi 
steamer in December, 1855, and arrived at Chicago on 
the 6th of January, 1856. The great hope of his 
younger days had been attained, and ne was now free. 
But Mr. Martin had seen too much of slavery to feel 
satisfied with merely getting his own freedom, and he 
therefore began the inquiry to see what he could do 



JOHN SELLA MARTIN. 243 

for those whom he had left in the prison house of bond- 
age. While at Chicago, he made the acquaintance of 
Mr. H. Ford Douglass, who was just about to visit the 
interior of the state, to deliver a course, of lectures. 
The latter observed by his conversation with Mr. Mar- 
tin, that he possessed the elements of a good speaker, 
and persuaded him to join and take part in the meet- 
ings. It is said that Mr. Martin's first attempt in 
public was an entire failure. He often alludes to it 
himself, and says that the humiliation which he expe- 
rienced reminded him of the time when he was sold 
on the auction block — only that the former seemed the 
cheaper sale of the two. He was advised never to try 
the platform again. But his want of success on the 
first occasion stimulated him to new exertion, and we 
are told that he wrote out a speech, committed it to 
memory, and delivered it two days after to the satisfac- 
tion of all present. Mr. Douglass himself character- 
izes it as a remarkable effort. But there was too much 
monotony in the delivery of one or two lectures over 
and over, and his natural aversion to committed 
speeches induced Mr. Martin to quit the lecturing 
field. He now resolved to resume his studies, and for 
this purpose he removed to Detroit, Michigan, where 
he commenced under the tutorage of an able Baptist 
minister. Feeling that he was called to preach, soon 
after this he began the study of theology, and remained 
the student until his education was so far finished that 
he felt justified in his own mind to commence lecturing 
and preaching. About this time he made the tour of 
the State of Michigan, and lectured with great success. 
In the beautiful and flourishing town of Coldwater, he 
addressed a large and influential meeting, and the 



244 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

effect upon the audience was such as to raise the 
speaker high in their estimation. The weekly paper 
said of this lecture, — 

" Our citizens filled the court house to hear J. S. 
Martin speak for his own race and in behalf of the op- 
pressed. The citizens admired and were even aston- 
ished at his success as a public speaker. He is a 
natural orator, and, considering his opportunities, is one 
of the most interesting and forcible speakers of his age, 
and of the age. Indeed, he is a prodigy. It would 
seem impossible that one kept in ' chains and slavery ,' 
and in total ignorance till within a few months, could 
so soon attain so vast a knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, and so clear and comprehensive a view of gen- 
eral subjects. Nature has made him a great man. 
His propositions and his arguments, his deductions and 
illustrations, are new and original ; his voice and man- 
ner are at his command and prepossessing ; his efforts 
are unstudied and effectual. The spirit which mani- 
fests itself is one broken loose from bondage and stim- 
ulated with freedom." 

Shortly after this, Mr. Martin was ordained and set- 
tled over the Michigan Street Baptist Church, Buffalo, 
New York, where he labored with signal success till 
April, 1859, when he removed east. During the same 
summer he was introduced to the Boston public by 
Mr. Kalloch, the popular preacher at the Tremont 
Temple. The latter, pleased with Mr. Martin, secured 
his services while away on his annual vacation, which 
occupied six or eight weeks. No place of religious 
worship was more thronged than the Temple during 
the time that he filled its pulpit. At the termination 
of his engagement at the Temple, Mr. Martin was in- 



JOHN SELLA MARTIN. 2 [■'> 

vited by Dr. Eddy to preach for liim a few weeks, which 
he did with credit to himself and satisfaction to the 
society. The first Baptist Church at Lawrence being 
without a pastor, Mr. Martin was engaged to supply 
the pulpit, and was there seven or eight months, and 
might have remained longer ; but during this time he 
received a call from the Joy Street Church, Boston, 
and. feeling that his labor was more needed with his 
own color, he accepted the latter. He has now been 
at the Joy Street Church about three years, where his 
preaching has met with marked success. That society 
had long been in a declining state ; but the church is 
now as well filled on Sundays as any place in the city. 
In the summer of 1861, Mr. Martin visited England, 
and remained abroad six months, where he did good 
service for the cause of freedom. On his return home 
he was warmly welcomed by his church and congrega- 
tion. Soon after, he secured the freedom of his only 
sister and her two children, whom he settled at the 
west. In person, Mr. Martin is somewhat taller than 
the medium height ; firm, dignified walk ; not what 
would be termed handsome, but has a pleasing coun- 
tenance ; in race, half and half; eyes clear and bright; 
forehead well developed ; gentlemanly hi his deport- 
ment ; has a popularity not surpassed by any of the 
preachers of Boston. 

He has written considerably for the press, both prose 

and poetry. Some of the latter is much admired. 

His poem ".The Hero and the Slave " has been read 

in public entertainments, and received with applause. 

21* 



246 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



CHARLES LENOX REMOND. 

Charles L. Remond is a native of Salem, Mass. 
He has the honor, we believe, of being the first col- 
ored man to take the field as a lecturer against slavery. 
He has been, more or less, in the employ of the Anti- 
Slavery Society for the past twenty-eight or thirty years. 
In 1840, he visited England as a delegate to the first 
"World's Anti-Slavery Convention," held in London. 
He remained abroad nearly two years, lecturing in the 
various towns and cities of Great Britain and Ireland. 
The following lines, addressed to him, appeared in one 
of the public journals, after the delivery of one of his 
thrilling speeches, in Belfast, and will give some idea 
of the estimation in which he was held as a platform 
speaker. 

TO C. L. REMOND. 

Go forth and fear not ! Glorious is the cause 

Which thou dost advocate ; and nobly, too, 

Hast thou fulfilled thy mission — nobly raised 

Thy voice against oppression, and the woes 

Of injured millions ; and, if they are men, 

Who can deny for them a Saviour died ? 

Nor will it e'er be asked, in that dread day 

When black and white shall stand before the throne 

Of Him their common Parent, " Unto which 

Partition of the human race didst thou 

Belong on earth ? " Enough for thee to fill 

The lot assigned thee, as ordained by Heaven. 

I would not praise thee, Remond, — thou hast gifts 



CHARLES LENOX REMOND. 247 

Bestowed upon thee for a noble end ; 

And for the use of which account must be 

Returned to Him who lent them. May this thought 

Preserve thee in his fear, and may the praise 

Be given only to his mighty name. 

And if, returning to tby native land, 

By thee beloved, though dark with crimes that stain 

Her boasted freedom, thou art called to prove 

Thy true allegiance, even then go forth 

Resigned to suffer, — trust thy all to Him 

Who can support thee, whilst a still, small voice, 

Within thy breast, shall whisper, "All is well." 

Mr. Remond was welcomed on his return home, and 
again resumed his vocation as a lecturer. In stature 
he is small, spare made, neat, wiry build, and genteel 
in his personal appearance. He has a good voice, and 
is considered one of the best declaimers in New Eng- 
land. Faultless in his dress, and an excellent horse- 
man, Mr. Remond has long been regarded the Count 
D'Orsay of the anti-slavery movement. He has written 
little or nothing for the press, and his notoriety is con- 
fined solely to the platform. Sensitive to a fault, and 
feeling sorely the prejudice against color which exists 
throughout the United States, his addresses have been 
mainly on that subject, on which he is always interesting. 
He is a good writer who embodies in his works the soul 
and spirit of the times in which he lives, — provided 
they are worth embodying, — and the common sym- 
pathy of the great mass is sounder criticism by far 
than the rules of mere scholars, who, buried up in 
their formulas, cannot speak so as to arrest the at- 
tention or move the heart. Adaptation without de- 



248 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

generacy is the great law to be followed. What is 
true of the writer is also true of the speaker. No 
man can put more real meaning in fewer words than 
Mr. Remond, and no one can give them greater force. 
The following extract from a speech of Mr. Remond, 
delivered before the New England Anti-Slavery Con- 
vention, at its anniversary in May, 1859, is character- 
istic of his style. 

"If I had but one reason, why I consented to appear 
here, it was because, at this moment, I believe it be- 
longs to the colored man in this country to say that his 
lot is a common one with every white man north of 
the Potomac River ; and if you ask me who are my cli- 
ents, I think I may answer, 'Every man north of Mason 
and Dixon's line, without reference to his complexion.' 
I have read in the newspapers that one or two distin- 
guished men of this city propose to spend the coming 
summer in Europe. Born in Boston, educated at Har- 
vard, having been dandled in the lap of Massachusetts 
favor and Massachusetts popularity, they are about to 
travel in Europe, among despotisms, monarchies, aris- 
tocracies, and oligarchies ; and I trust in God they 
may learn, as they travel in those countries, that it 
is an everlasting disgrace that on the soil on which 
they were born, no man of color can stand and be 
considered free. If they shall learn no more than 
this, I will wish them a pleasant and prosperous tour ; 
and unless they shall learn this, I hope they will come 
back and have the same padlock put upon their lips 
that is put upon men south of Mason and Dixon's 
line. 

" I want to ask this large audience, Mr. Chairman, 
through you, supposing the citizens of Boston should 



CHARLES LENOX REMOND. ll!!» 

call a meeting to-morrow, and resolve that, in the 
event of a southern man, with southern principles, 
being elected to the presidential office, this state will 
secede, how would the State of Mississippi receive it ? 
Now, I am here to ask that the non-slaveholding states 
shall dare to do, and write, and publish, and resolve, 
in behalf of freedom, as the slaveholders dare to act 
and resolve in behalf of slavery. 

The time has been, Mr. Chairman, when a colored 
man could scarcely look a white man in the face 
without trembling, owing to his education and expe- 
rience. I am not here to boast ; but I may say, in 
view of what I have seen and heard during the last 
five years, as I said in the Representatives' Hall a 
few months ago, that our lot is a common one, and 
the sooner we shall so regard it, and buckle on our 
knapsacks and shoulder our muskets, and resolve that 
we will be free, the better for you as well as for me. 
The disgrace that once rested upon the head of the 
black man, now hovers over the head of every man and 
woman whom I have the honor to address this evening, 
just in proportion as they shall dare to stand erect be- 
fore the oligarchy of slaveholders in the southern por- 
tion of our country; and God hasten forward the day 
when not only Music Hall, but every other hall in the 
city of Boston, the Athens of America, shall be made 
eloquent with tones that shall speak, as man has 
never before spoken in this country, for the cause 
of universal freedom. If the result of that speaking- 
must be bloodshed, be it so ! If it "must be the dis- 
solution of the Union, be it so! If it must be that 
we must walk over or through the American church, 
be'it so ! The time has come when, if you value your 



250 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

own freedom, James Buchanan must be hung in effigy 
and such men as Dr. Nehemiah Adams must be put in 
the pillory of public disgrace and contempt ; and then 
Massachusetts will cease' to be a hissing and a by-word 
in every other country." 



GEORGE T. DOWNING. 

The tall, fine figure, manly walk, striking profile, 
and piercing eye of George T. Downing would attract 
attention in any community, even where he is un- 
known. Possessing remarkable talents, finely edu- 
cated, a keen observer, and devoted to the freedom 
and elevation of his race, he has long been looked 
upon as a representative man. A good debater, quick 
to take advantage of the weak points of an opponent, 
forcible in speech, and a natural orator, Mr. Downing 
is always admired as a speaker. Choipn president of 
the convention of colored citizens which assembled in 
Boston on the first of August, 1859, he delivered an 
impressive and eloquent opening address, of which we 
regret that we can give only an extract. He said, — 

" The great consideration that presses *ipon me is, 
what may we do to make ourselves of more impor- 
tance in community — necessary, indispensable ? To 
sustain such a relation as this to community, (and 
it is possible,) is to secure, beyond a question, all the 
respect, to make sure the enjoyment of all the rights, 
that the most deferred to of the land enjoy. Society 
is deferential ; it defers to power. Learning, and 
wealth, and power are most potent in society. It is 



GEORGE T. DOWNING. 25^ 

not necessary that many men and women of us be 
wealthy and learned before we can force respect as a 
class ; but it is necessary that we exhibit a proportion 
ate representative character for learning and wealth, 
to be respected. It is not numbers alone, it is not 
universal wealth, it is not general learning, that se- 
cures to those, known by a distinction in society as 
whites — that gains them power; for they are not gen- 
erally wealthy, not commonly learned. The number 
of these among them, as in all communities, is limited ; 
but that number forms a representative character, some 
of whom excel ; hence they have power — the class en- 
joy a name. 

" There is another sense of power in community, 
which, though silent, has its weight — it should be 
most potent : that power is moral character. This 
also, like the other powers of which I have spoken, 
need not be universal to have an effect favorable to a 
class. I think that I am not claiming too much for 
the colored people in asserting that we have a decent 
representation in this respect — a most remarkable one, 
considering all the depressing influences which the 
present and preceding generations have had to strug- 
gle up under. Happily, this power on community 
is not growing less ; it is on the increase. An illus- 
tration of the correctness of my position as to the pow- 
er of a representative character for wealth and learn- 
ing in commanding respect, is forcibly exhibited in the 
Celts in our midst, who came among us poor and igno- 
rant, and who, consequently, fill menial, dependent 
positions. They are the least respected of all immi- 
grants. In speaking thus, I am simply dealing with 
facts, not intending to be invidious. The German 



52 THE 'BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

element, mingling with the general element which 
comes among us, representing a higher intelligence, 
more wealth, with great practical industry, is silently 
stealing a hold, a power in the nation, because of these 
possessions, at which native America will yet start. 
Now, gentlemen, if these be facts, is it not well for us, 
as sensible men here assembled, to consider our best 
interest — to have in view these sources of power? 
Would it not be well to consider these — to fall upon 
some plan by which we may possess or excite to the 
possession of them — rather than devote much of our 
time in a discussion as to the injustice of our fellow- 
countrymen in their relation to us ? Of.this they know 
full well, and we too bitterlv. 

" The ballot is a power in this country which should 
^mt be lost sight of by us. Were it more generally 
exercised by the colored people, the effect would be 
very perceptible. Those of them residents of the states 
that deny them the privilege of the elective franchise, 
should earnestly strive to have the right and the power 
secured to them ; those who have it should never let 
an occasion pass, when they may consistently exercise 
it, without doing so. s We know that the government 
and the states have acted most unfairly in their rela- 
tion to us ; but that government and the states, in do- 
ing so, have clearly disregarded justice, as well as per- 
verted the legal interpretation of the supreme law of 
the land, as set forth in its constitution ; which facts 
alone require that we exercise the right to vote, when- 
ever we can, towards correcting this injustice. Were 
it known on election day that any colored man would 
deposit a vote, that there would be a concert of action 
in doing so, the effect would be irresistible. Cannot 



ROBERT PURVIS. 253 

such a vote be cast at the approaching presidential 
election ? Will the Republican party (a party which 
is entitled to credit for the service it has rendered 
to the cause of freedom) put in nomination, in 1860, 
a man for whom we can, with some degree of con- 
sistency, cast our ballots ? It has such men "in its 
ranks — prominent men of the party — men who are 
available. 

" I would have it noted, that we cannot vote for a 
man who subscribes to*the doctrine that, in struggling 
for freedom in a presidential or any other election, he 
ignores the rights of the colored man. 

" There is an increased as well .as an increasing re- 
spect for us in community. This is not simply be- 
cause we have friends (all praise to them) who speak 
out boldly and uncompromisingly for the right, — in 
fact, the most of their efforts have been directed to- 
wards relieving the country of the blight and of the 
injustice of slavery, — but it is because our character, 
as a class, is better understood." 

Mr. Downing is a native of New York, but spends 
his summers at Newport, where he has an excellent re- 
treat for those seeking that fashionable watering-place, 
and where he stands high with the better class of the 
community. 



ROBERT PURVIS. 

Few private gentlemen are better known than Rob- 
ert Purvis. Born in Charleston, S. C, a son of the 
late venerable William Purvis, Esq., educated in New 
England, and early associated with William Lloyd 
22 



254 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Garrison, Francis Jackson, and Wendell Phillips, he 
has always been understood as belonging to the most 
ultra wing of the radical abolitionists. Residing in 
Philadelphia when it was unsafe to avow one's self a 
friend of the slave, Mr. Purvis never was known to 
deny his hatred to the "peculiar institution." A 
writer for one of the public journals, seeking out dis- 
tinguished colored persons as subjects for his pen, paid 
him a visit, of which the following is his account : — 

" The stage put us down at his gate, and we were 
warned to be ready to return in an hour and a half. 
His dwelling stands some distance back from the turn- 
pike. It is approached by a broad lawn, and shaded 
with ancient trees. In the rear stands a fine series 
of barns. There are magnificent orchards connected 
with his farm, and his live stock is of the most ap- 
proved breeds. We understand that he receives num- 
bers of premiums annually from agricultural soci- 
eties. In this fine old mansion Mr. Purvis has resided 
many years. 

" We were ushered, upon our visit, into a pleasant 
dining room, hung with a number of paintings. Upon 
one side of an old-fashioned mantel was a large por- 
trait of a fine-looking white man ; on the other side, a 
portrait of a swarthy negro. Above these old John 
Brown looked gloomily down, like a bearded patriarch. 

" In a few minutes Mr. Purvis came in. We had 
anticipated a stubborn-looking negro, with a swagger, 
and a toi# of bravado. In place of such, we saw a tall, 
beautifully knit gentleman, almost white, and hand- 
somely dressed. His foot and hand were symmetrical, 
and, although his hair was gray with years, every limb 
was full, and every movement supple and easy. lie 



ROBERT PURVIS. 255 

saluted us with decorous dignity, and began to con- 
verse. 

" It was difficult to forget that the man before us 
was not of our own race. The topics upon which he 
spoke were chiefly personal. He related some very 
amusing anecdotes of his relations with southern gen- 
tlemen. On one occasion he applied for a passage to 
Liverpool in a Philadelphia packet. Some southern 
gentlemen, unacquainted with Purvis, save as a man 
of negro blood, protested that he should not be received. 
Among these was a Mr. Hayne, a near relative of 
Hayne the orator. 

" Purvis accordingly went to Liverpool by another 
vessel. He met Hayne and the southerners as they 
were about returning home, and took passage with 
them, passing for a white man. He gained their es- 
teem, was cordially invited by each to visit him in the 
south, and no entertainment was complete without his 
joke and his presence. At a final dinner, given to the 
party by the captain of the vessel, Mr. Hayne, who had 
all along spoken violently of the negro race, publicly 
toasted Mr. Purvis, as the finest type of the Caucasian 
race he had ever met. 

" Mr. Pnrvis rose to reply. ' I am not a Caucasian,' 
said he ; 'I belong to the degraded tribe of Africans.' 

" The feelings of the South Carolinians need not be 
described. 

" Mr. Purvis has written a number of anti-slavery 
pamphlets, and is regarded, by rumor, as the president 
of the Underground Eailroad. He has figured in many 
slave-rescue cases, some of which he relates with graph- 
ic manner of description. 

" He is the heaviest tax-payer in the township, and 



256 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS 

owns two very valuable farms. By his influence tho 
public schools of the township have been thrown open 
to colored children. He has also built, at his own ex- 
pense, a hall for free debate. We left him with feel- 
ings of higher regard than we have yet felt for any of 
his people. It is proper to remark, that Purvis is the 
grandchild of a blackamoor, who was taken a slave to 
South Carolina." 

Although disdaining all profession of a public char- 
acter, Mr. Purvis is, nevertheless, often invited to ad- 
dress public gatherings. As a speaker he is energetic, 
eloquent, and sarcastic. He spares neither friend nor 
foe in his argument ; uses choice language, and appears 
to feel that nature and humanity are the everlasting 
proprietors of truth, and that truth should be spoken 
at all times. Mr. Purvis is an able writer, and what- 
ever he says comes directly from the heart. His letter 
to Hon. S. C. Pomeroy, on colonization, is character- 
istic of him. We regret that space will not allow us 
to give the whole of this timely and manly production. 

" There are some aspects of this project which surely 
its advocates cannot have duly considered. You pur- 
pose to exile hundreds and thousands of your laborers. 
The wealth of a country consists mainly in its labor. 
With what law of economy, political or social, can you 
reconcile this project to banish from your shores the 
men that plough your fields, drive your teams, and 
help build your houses ? Already the farmers around 
me begin to feel the pinching want of labor ; how will 
it be after this enormous draft ? I confess the project 
seems to me one of insanity. What will foreign na- 
tions, on whose good or ill will so much is supposed 
now to depend, think of this project ? These nations 



ROBERT PURVIS. 257 

have none of this vulgar prejudice against complexion. 
What, then, will they think of the wisdom of a people 
who, to gratify a low-born prejudice, deliberately plan 
to drive out hundreds and thousands of the most peace- 
ful, industrious, and competent laborers ? Mr. Roe- 
buck said in a late speech at Sheffield, as an argument 
for intervention, ' that the feeling against the black was 
stronger at the north than in the south.' Mr. Roebuck 
can now repeat that assertion, and point to this govern- 
mental project in corroboration of its truth. A ' Slave- 
holders' Convention ' was held a few years since in 
Maryland to consider whether it would not be best 
either to re-enslave the free blacks of that state, or ban- 
ish them from its borders. The question was discussed, 
and a committee, the chairman of which was United 
States Senator Pearce, was appointed to report upon it. 
That committee reported ' that to enslave men now 
free would be inhuman, and to banish them from the 
state would be to inflict a deadly blow upon the mate- 
rial interests of the commonwealth ; that their labor 
was indispensable to the welfare of the state.' Sir, 
your government proposes to do that which the Slave- 
holders' Convention of Maryland, with all their hate 
of the free blacks, declared to be inconsistent with the 
public interest. 

" But it is said this is a question of prejudice, of na- 
tional antipathy, and not to be reasoned about. The 
president has said, ' whether it is right or wrong I 
need not now discuss.' 

" Great God ! Is justice nothing ? Is honor nothing ? 
Is even pecuniary interest to be sacrificed to this in- 
sane and vulgar hate ? But it is said this is the ' white 
man's country.' Not so, sir. This is the red man's 
22* 



258 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

country by natural right, and the black man's by virtue 
of his sufferings and toil. Your fathers by violence 
drove the red man out, and forced the black man in. 
The children of the black man have enriched the soil 
by their tears, and sweat, and blood. Sir, we were 
born here, and here we choose to remain. For twenty 
years we were goaded and harassed by systematic 
efforts to make us colonize. We were coaxed and 
mobbed, and mobbed and coaxed, but we refused to 
judge. -We planted ourselves upon our inalienable 
rights, and were proof against all the efforts that were 
made to expatriate us. For the last fifteen years we 
have enjoyed comparative quiet. Now again the ma- 
lign project is broached, and again, as before, in the 
name of humanity are we invited to leave. 

" In God's name, what good do you expect to accom- 
plish by such a course ? If you will not let our breth- 
ren in bonds go free, if you will not let us, as did our 
fathers, share in the privileges of the government, if 
you will not let us even help fight the battles of the 
country, in Heaven's name, at least, let us alone. Is 
that too great a boon to ask of your magnanimity ? 

" I elect to stay on the soil on which I was born, and 
on the plot of ground which I have fairly bought and 
honestly paid for. Don't advise me to leave, and don't 
add insult to injury by telling me it's for my own 
good ; of that I am to be the judge. It is in vain that 
you talk to me about the ' two races,' and their ' mutual 
antagonism.' In the matter of rights there is but one 
race, and that is the human race. ' God has made of one 
blood all nations to dwell on all the face of the earth.' 
And it is not true that there is a mutual antagonism 
between the white and colored people of this commu- 



JOSEPH JENKINS. 259 

nity. You may antagonize us, but we do not antago 
nize you. You may hate us. but we do not hate you. 
It may argue a want of spirit to cling to those who 
seek to banish us, but such is, nevertheless, the fact. 

" Sir, this is our country as much as it is yours, and 
we ivill not leave it. Your ships may be at the door, 
but we choose to remain. A few may go, as a few 
went to Hayti, and a few to Liberia ; but the colored 
people as a mass will not leave the land of their birth. 
Of course, I can only speak by authority for myself; 
but I know the people with whom I am identified, and 
I feel confident that I only express their sentiment as 
a body when I say that your project of colonizing them 
in Central America, or any where else, with or without 
their consent, will never succeed. They will migrate, 
as do other people, when left to themselves, and when 
the motive is sufficient ; but they will neither be ' com- 
pelled to volunteer,' nor constrained to go of their 
' own accord.' " 



JOSEPH JENKINS. 

" Look here, upon this picture, and on this." — Hamlet. 

No one accustomed to pass through Cheapside could 
fail to have noticed a good-looking man, neither black 
nor white, engaged in distributing bills to the thou- 
sands who throng that part of the city of London. 
While strolling through Cheapside, one morning, I 
saw, for the fiftieth time, Joseph Jenkins, the subject 
of this article, handing out his bills to all who would 
take them as he thrust them into their hands. I con- 



260 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

fess that I was not a little amused, and stood for some 
moments watching and admiring his energy in distrib- 
uting his papers. A few days after, I saw the same 
individual in Chelsea, sweeping a crossing ; here, too, 
he was equally as energetic as when I met him in the 
city. Some days later, while going through Kensing- 
ton, I heard rather a sweet, musical voice singing a 
familiar psalm, and on looking round was not a little 
surprised to find that it was the Cheapside bill-distrib- 
utor and Chelsea crossing-sweeper. He was now sing- 
ing hymns, and selling religious tracts. I am fond of 
patronizing genius, and therefore took one of his tracts 
and paid him for a dozen. 

During the following week, I saw, while going up 
the City Road, that Shakspeare's tragedy of Othello 
was to be performed at the Eagle Saloon that night, 
and that the character of the Moor was to be taken by 
" Selim, an African prince.'''' Having no engagement 
that evening, I resolved at once to attend, to witness 
the performance of the " African Talma," as he was 
called. It was the same interest that had induced me 
to go to the Italian opera to see Mesdames Sontag and 
Grisi in Norma, and to visit Drury Lane to see Ma- 
cready take leave of the stage. My expectations 
were screwed up to the highest point. The excite- 
ment caused by the publication of " Uncle Tom's 
Cabin" had prepared the public for any thing in the 
African line, and I felt that the prince would be sure 
of a good audience ; and in this I was not disappoint- 
ed, for, as I took my seat in one of the boxes near the 
stage, I saw that the house was crammed with an or- 
derly company. The curtain was already up when I 
entered, and Iago and Roderigo were on the stage. 



JOSEPH JENKINS. 261 

After a while Othello came in, and was gieekid with 
thunders of applause, which he very gracefully ac- 
knowledged. Just black enough to take his part 
without coloring his face, and being tall, with a good 
figure and an easy carriage, a fine, full, and musical 
voice, he was well adapted to the character of Othello. 
I immediately recognized in the countenance of the 
Moor a face that I had seen before, but could not at 
the moment tell where. Who could this "prince" 
be ? thought I. He was too black for Douglass, not 
black enough for Ward, not tall enough for Garnet, 
too calm for Delany, figure, though fine, not genteel 
enough for Remond. However, I was soon satisfied as 
to who the star was. Reader, would you think it ? it 
was no less a person than Mr. Jenkins, the bill-distrib- 
utor from Cheapside, and crossing-sweeper from Chel- 
sea ! For my own part, I was overwhelmed with 
amazement, and it was some time before I could real- 
ize the fact. He soon showed that he possessed great 
dramatic power and skill ; and his description to the 
senate of how he won the affections of the gentle Des- 
demona stamped him at once as an actor of merit. 
"What a pity," said a lady near me to a gentleman 
that was by her side, " that a prince of the royal blood 
of Africa should have to go upon the stage for a 
living! It is indeed a shame!" When he came 
to the scene, — 

" O, cursed, cursed slave ! — whip me, ye devils, 
From the possession of this heavenly sight ! 
Blow me about in winds, roast me in sulphur ! 
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire ! 
O, Desdemona ! Desdemona ! dead ? 
Dead ? ! O ! O ! " — 



262 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the effect was indeed grand. When the curtain fell, 
the prince was called upon the stage, where he was 
received with deafening shouts of approbation, and a 
number of bouquets thrown at his feet, which he 
picked up, bowed, and retired. I went into Cheap- 
side the next morning, at an early hour, to see if the 
prince had given up his old trade for what I supposed 
to be a more lucrative one ; but I found the hero of 
the previous night at his post, and giving out his bills 
as energetically as when I had last seen him. Having 
to go to the provinces for some months, I lost sight of 
Mr. Jenkins, and on my return to town did not trouble 
myself to look him up. More than a year after I had 
witnessed the representation of Othello at the Eagle, I 
was walking, one pleasant Sabbath evening, through 
one of the small streets in the borough, when I found 
myself in front of a little chapel, where a number of 
persons were going in. As I was passing on slowly, 
an elderly man said to me, " I suppose you have come 
to hear your colored brother preach." " No," I an- 
swered ; " I was not aware that one was to be here." 
" Yes," said he ; " and a clever man he is, too." As 
the old man offered to find me a seat, I concluded to 
go in and hear this son of Africa. The room, which 
was not large, was already full. I had to wait but a 
short time before the reverend gentleman made his 
appearance. He was nearly black, and dressed in a 
black suit, with high shirt-collar, and an intellectual- 
looking oravat, that nearly hid his chin. A pair of 
spectacles covered his eyes. The preacher commenced 
by reading a portion of Scripture, and then announced 
that they would sing the twenty-eighth hymn in " the 
arrangement." 0, that voice ! I felt sure that I had 



JOSEPH JENKINS. 263 

heard that musical voice before ; but where, 1 cmild 
not tell. I was not aware that any of my countrymen 
were in London, but felt that, whoever he was, he 
was no discredit to the race ; for he was a most elo- 
quent and accomplished orator. His sermon was 
against the sale and use of intoxicating drinks, and 
the bad habits of the working classes, of whom his 
audience was composed. 

Although the subject was intensely interesting, I 
was impatient for it to come to a close, for I wanted 
to speak to the preacher. But the evening being 
warm, and the room heated, the reverend gentleman, 
on wiping the perspiration from his face, (which, by 
the way, ran very freely,) took off his spectacles on 
one occasion, so that I immediately recognized him, 
which saved me from going up to the pulpit at the end 
of the service. Yes ; it was the bill-distributor of 
Cheapside, the crossing-sweeper of Chelsea, the tract- 
seller and psalm-singer of Kensington, and the Othello 
of the Eagle Saloon. I could scarcely keep from 
laughing outright when I discovered this to be the 
man that I had seen in so many characters. As I was 
about leaving my seat at the close of the services, the 
old man who showed me into the chapel asked me if 
I would not like to be introduced to the minister ; and 
I immediately replied that I would. We proceeded 
up the aisle, and met the clergyman as he was de- 
scending. On seeing me, he did not wait for a formal 
introduction, but put out his hand and said, " I have 
seen you so often, sir, that I seem to know you." 
" Yes," I replied ; " we have met several times, and 
under different circumstances." Without saying more, 
he invited me to walk with him towards his home, 



264 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

which was in the direction of my own residence. We 
proceeded ; and, during the walk, Mr. Jenkins gave 
me some little account of his early history. " You 
think me rather an odd fish, I presume," said he. 
" Yes," I replied. " You are not the only one who 
thinks so," continued he. " Although I am not as 
black as some of my countrymen, I am a native of 
Africa. Surrounded by some beautiful mountain 
scenery, and situated between Darfour and Abyssinia, 
two thousand miles in the interior of Africa, is a small 
valley going by the name of Teg-la. To that valley I 
stretch forth my affections, giving it the endearing ap- 
pellation of my native home and fatherland. It was 
there that I was born, it was there that I received the 
fond looks of a loving mother, and it was there that I 
set my feet, for the first time, upon a world full of 
cares, trials, difficulties, and dangers. My father being 
a farmer, I used to be sent out to take care of his goats. 
This service I did when I was between seven and eight 
years of age. As I was the eldest of the boys, my 
pride was raised in no small degree when I beheld my 
father preparing a farm for me. This event filled my 
mind with the grand anticipation of leaving the care 
of the goats to my brother, who was then beginning to 
work a little. While my father was making these 
preparations, I had the constant charge of the goats ; 
and being accompanied by two other boys, who resided 
near my father's house, we wandered many miles from 
home, by which means we acquired a knowledge of 
the different districts of our country. 

" It was while in these rambles with my companions 
that I became the victim of the slave-trader. We 
were tied with cords and taken to Tegla, and thence to 



JOSEPH JENKINS. 265 

Kordofan, which is under the jurisdiction of the Pacha 
of Egypt. From Kordofan I was brought down to 
Dongola and Korti, in Nubia, and from thence down 
the Nile to Cairo ; and, after being sold nine times, I 
became the property of an English gentleman, who 
brought me to this country and put me into school. 
But he died before I finished my education, and his 
family feeling no interest in me, I had to seek a living 
as best I could. I have been employed for some years 
to distribute handbills for a barber in Cheapside in 
the morning, go to Chelsea and sweep a crossing in the 
afternoon, and sing psalms and sell religious tracts in 
the evening. Sometimes I have an engagement to per- 
form at some of the small theatres, as I had when you 
saw me at the Eagle. I preach for this little congre- 
gation over here, and charge them nothing; fori want 
that the poor should have the gospel without money 
and without price. I have now given up distributing 
bills ; I have settled my son in that office. My eldest 
daughter was married about three months ago ; and I 
have presented her husband with the Chelsea crossing, 
as my daughter's wedding portion." " Can he make a 
living at it ? " I eagerly inquired. " 0, yes ; that crossing 
at Chelsea is worth thirty shillings a week, if it is well 
swept," said he. " But what do you do for a living 
for yourself? " I asked. " I am the leader of a band," 
he continued ; " and we play for balls and parties, and 
three times a week at the Holborn Casino." " You 
are determined to rise," said I. " Yes," he replied, — 

'Upward, onward, is my watchword; 

Though the winds blow good or ill, 
Though the sky be fair or stormy, 
This shall be my watchword still.' " 

23 



266 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

By this time we had reached a point where we 
had to part ; and I left Joseph Jenkins, impressed 
with the idea that he was the greatest genius that 
I had met in Europe. 



JOHN S. ROCK. 



The subject of this sketch was born in Salem, N. J., 
in 1825. When quite a child, he became passionately 
attached to his book, and, unlike most children, seldom 
indulged in amusements of any kind. His parents, 
anxious to make the most of his talents, kept him 
at school until he was eighteen years of age, at which 
time he was examined and approved as a teacher of 
public schools. He taught school from 1844 to 1848. 
Mr. David Allen writes, " His was certainly the most 
orderly, and the best conducted, school I ever visited, 
although myself a teacher for nearly twenty years." 
During the time Mr. Rock was teaching, Drs. Sharp 
and Gibbon opened their libraries to him, and he 
commenced the study of physic, — teaching six hours, 
studying eight, and giving private lessons two hours 
every day. After completing his medical studies, he 
found it impossible to get into a medical college; so 
he abandoned his idea of becoming a physician, and 
went with Dr. Harbert and studied dentistry. He 
finished his studies in the summer of 1849. In Jan- 
uary, 1850, he went to Philadelphia to practise his 
profession. In 1851, he received a silver medal for 
artificial teeth. In the same year, he took a silver 
medal for a prize essay on temperance. After the 



JOHN S. ROCK. 267 

Apprentices' High School had been established in 
Philadelphia, and while it was still an evening school, 
Mr. Rock took charge of it, and kept it until it was 
merged into a day school, under the direction of Pro- 
fessor Reason. He attended lectures in the American 
Medical College, and graduated in 1852. 

In 1853, Dr. Rock came to Boston, where he now 
resides. On leaving the city of Philadelphia, the pro- 
fessors of the Dental College gave him letters bearing 
testimony to his high professional skill and integrity. 
Professor Townsend writes, "Dr. Rock is a graduate 
of a medical school in this city, and is favorably known, 
and much respected, by the profession. Having seen 
him operate, it gives me great pleasure to bear my 
testimony to his superior abilities." Professor J. F. 
B. Flagg writes, " I have seen his operations, and have 
been much pleased with them. As a scientific man, 
I shall miss the intercourse which I have so long 
enjoyed in his acquaintance." After Mr. R. graduated 
in medicine, he practised both of his professions. In 
1856, he accepted an invitation to deliver a lecture on 
the " Unity of the Human Races," before the Massa- 
chusetts legislature. In 1857, he delivered the oration 
on the occasion of the dedication of the new Masonic 
Temple in Eleventh Street, Philadelphia. His intense 
application to study and to business had so undermined 
his health that, in the summer of 1856, he was obliged 
to give up all business. After several unsuccessful 
surgical operations here, and when nearly all hope for 
the restoration of his health was gone, he determined 
to go to France. When he was ready to go, he applied 
to the government for a passport. This was refused, 
Mr. Cass, then secretary of state, saying in reply, that 



268 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

" a passport had never been granted to a colored man 
since the foundation of the government." Mr. Rock 
went to France, however, and underwent a severe sur- 
gical operation at the hands of the celebrated Nelaton. 
Professor Nelaton advised him to give up dentistry al- 
together ; and as his shattered constitution forbade the 
exposure necessary for the practice of medicine, he 
gave up both, and bent all his energies to the study 
of law. In 1860, he accepted an invitation, and de- 
livered a lecture on the " Character and Writings of 
Madame De Stael," before the Massachusetts legisla- 
ture, which he did " with credit to himself and sat- 
isfaction to the very large audience in attendance." 
Der Pionier, a German newspaper, in Boston, said, 
when commenting on his criticism of De Stael's " Ger- 
many," " This thinking, educated German and French 
speaking negro proved himself as learned in Ger- 
man as he is in French literature." On the 14th of 
September, 1861, on motion of T. K. Lothrop, Esq., 
Dr. Rock was examined in the Superior Court, before 
Judge Russell, and admitted to practice as an attorney 
and counsellor at law in all the courts of Massachu- 
setts. On the 21st of the same month Mr. Rock re- 
ceived a commission from the governor and council 
as a justice of the peace for seven years for the city 
of Boston and county of Suffolk. 

We annex an extract from a speech made by him 
before the last anniversary of the Massachusetts Anti- 
Slavery Society. 

" Other countries are held out as homes for us. 
Why is this ? Why is it that the people from all 
other countries are invited to come here, and we are 
asked to go away ? Is it to make room for the refuse 



JOHN S. ROCK. 2G9 

population of Europe? Or why is it that the white 
people of this country desire to get rid of us ? Does 
any one pretend to deny that this is our country ? or 
that much of its wealth and prosperity is the result 
of the labor of our hands? or that our blood and bones 
have crimsoned and whitened every battle-field from 
Maine to Louisiana? Why this desire to get rid of 
us? Can it be possible that because the nation has 
robbed us for more than two centuries, and now finds 
that she can do it no longer and preserve a good 
character among the nations, she, out of hatred, wishes 
to banish, because she cannot continue to rob, us? Or 
why is it ? I will tell you. The free people of color 
have succeeded in spite of every thing ; and we are to- 
day a living refutation of that shameless assertion that 
we cannot take care of ourselves. Abject as our con- 
dition has been, our whole lives prove us to be superior 
to the influences that have been brought to bear upon 
us to crush us. This cannot be said of your race when 
it was oppressed and enslaved. Another reason is, 
this nation has wronged us; therefore many hate us. 
The Spanish proverb is, ' Since I have wronged you 
I have never liked you.' This is true of every class 
of people. When a man wrongs another, he not only 
hates him, but tries to make others dislike him. Un- 
natural as this may appear, it is nevertheless true. 
You may help a man during his lifetime, and he will 
speak well of you ; but your first refusal will incur his 
displeasure, and show you his ingratitude. When he 
has got all he can from you, he has no further use 
for you. When the orange is squeezed, we throw it 
aside. The black man is a good fellow while he is a 
slave, and toils for nothing ; but the moment he claims 
23* 



270 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

his own flesh and blood and bones, he is a most obnox- 
ious creature, and there *is a proposition to get rid of 
him. He is happy while he remains a poor, degraded, 
ignorant slave, without even the right to his own off- 
spring. While in this condition the master can ride 
in the same carriage, sleep in the same bed, and nurse 
from the same bosom. But give this slave the right 
to use his own legs, his hands, his body, and his mind, 
and this happy and desirable creature is instantly 
transformed into a most loathsome wretch, fit only 
to be colonized somewhere near the mountains of the 
moon, or eternally banished from civilized beings ! 
You must not lose sight of the fact it is the eman- 
cipated slave and the free colored man that it is 
proposed to remove — not the slave. This country is 
perfectly adapted to negro slavery ; it is the free blacks 
that the air is not good for ! What an idea ! a country 
good for slavery and not good for freedom ! This 
monstrous idea would be scorned by even a Fejee 
Islander." 

As a public speaker Mr. Rock stands deservedly 
high ; his discourses being generally of an elevated 
tone, and logically put together. As a member of 
the Boston bar, he has thus far succeeded well, and 
bids fair to obtain his share of public patronage. In 
personal appearance Mr. Rock is tall and of good 
figure, with a thoughtful countenance, and a look that 
indicates the student. In color he is what is termed a 
grief, about one remove from the negro. By his own 
color lie has long been regarded as a representative 
man. 



WILLIAM DOUGLASS. 271 



WILLIAM DOUGLASS. 

William Douglass was a clergyman of the Prctes- 
tant Episcopal denomination, and for a number of 
years was rector of St. Thomas Church, Philadelphia. 
We met Mr. Douglass in England in 1852, and be- 
came impressed with the belief that he was no ordinary 
man. He had a finished education, being well versed 
in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. He possessed large and 
philanthropic views, but was extremely diffident, which 
gave one the opinion that he was a man of small abil- 
ity. Being in Philadelphia m the spring of 1860, we 
attended the morning service at his church. When 
the preacher made his appearance, all eyes were turned 
to the pulpit. His figure was prepossessing — a great 
thing in a public speaker. Weak, stunted, deformed- 
looking men labor under much disadvantage. Mr. 
Douglass had a commanding look, a clear, musical 
voice, and was a splendid reader. He was no dull 
drone when the service was over and the sermon had 
commenced. With downcast eye he read no moral 
essay that touched no conscience and fired no heart. 
On the contrary, he was spirited in the pulpit. He 
looked his congregation in the face ; he directed his 
discourse to them. He took care that not a single 
word should lose its aim. No one fell asleep while 
•he was speaking, but all seemed intensely interested 
in the subject in hand. Mr. Douglass was a general 
favorite with the people of his own city, and especially 
the members of his society. He was a talented writer, 
and published, a few years ago, a volume of sermons, 



272 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

which are filled with gems of thought and original 
ideas. A feeling of deep piety and humanity runs 
through the entire book. Mr. Douglass was of un- 
mixed blood, gentlemanly in his manners, chaste in* 
conversation, and social in private life. Though not 
active in public affairs, he was, nevertheless, interested 
in all that concerned the freedom and elevation of his 
race. He visited England and the West Indies some 
years ago, and had an extensive acquaintance beyond 
the limits of his own country. Mr. Douglass was re- 
spected and esteemed by the white clergy of Philadel- 
phia, who were forced to acknowledge his splendid 
abilities. 



ELYMAS PAYSON ROGERS. 

E. P. Rogers, a clergyman of the Presbyterian order, 
and pastor of a church at Newark, New Jersey, was a 
man of education, research, and literary ability. He 
was not a fluent and easy speaker, but he was logical, 
and spoke with a degree of refinement seldom met 
with. He possessed poetical genius of no mean order, 
and his poem on the " Missouri Compromise," which 
he read in many of the New England cities and towns 
in 1856, contains brilliant thoughts and amusing sug- 
gestions. • The following on Truth is not without 
point : — 

" When Truth is girded for the fight, 
And draws her weapons keen and bright, 
And lifts aloft her burnished shield, 
Her godlike influence to wield, 



1 



ELYMAS PAYSON ROGERS. 273 

If victory in that self-same hour 
Is not accomplished by her power, 
She'll not retreat nor flee away, 
But win the field another day. 
She will with majesty arise, 
Seize her traducers by surprise, 
And by her overwhelming might 
Will put her deadly foes to flight." 

The allusion to the threat of the south against the 
north is a happy one, in connection with the rebellion. 

"I'll show my power the country through, 
And will the factious north subdue ; 
And Massachusetts shall obey, 
And yield to my increasing sway. 
She counts her patriotic deeds, 
But scatters her disunion seeds ; 
She proudly tells us of the tea 
Sunk by her worthies in the sea, 
And then she talks more proudly still 
Of Lexington and Bunker Hill ; 
But on that hill, o'er patriots' graves, 
I'll yet enroll my negro slaves. 
I may have trouble, it is true, 
But still I'll put the rebels through, 
And make her statesmen bow the knee, 
Yield to my claims, and honor me. 
And though among them I shall find 
The learned, the brilliant, and refined, 
If on me they shall e'er reflect, 
No senate chamber shall protect 
Their guilty pates and heated brains, 
From hideous gutta percha canes." 



274 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

The election of N. P. Banks, as speaker of the 
House of Representatives, is mentioned in the suc- 
ceeding lines : — 

" But recently the north drove back 
The southern tyrants from the track, 
And put to flight their boasting ranks, 
And gave the speaker's chair to Banks." 

Mr. Rogers was of unmixed race, genteel in appear- 
ance, forehead large and well developed, fine figure, 
and pleasing in his manners. Anxious to benefit his 
race, he visited Africa in 1861, was attacked with the 
fever, and died in a few days. No man was more re- 
spected by all classes than he. His genial influence 
did much to soften down the pro-slavery feeling which 
existed in the city where he resided. 



J. THEODORE HOLLY. 

If there is any man living who is more devoted 
to the idea of a "Negro Nationality" than Dr. De- 
lany, that man is J. Theodore Holly. Possessing a 
good education, a retentive memory, and being of stu- 
dious habits, Mr. Holly has brought himself up to a 
point of culture not often attained by men even in the 
higher walks of life. Unadulterated in race, devot- 
edly attached to Africa and her descendants, he has 
made a " Negro Nationality " a matter of much thought 
and study. He paid a visit to Hayti in 1858 or 1859, 
returned home, and afterwards preached, lectured, and 



J. THEODORE HOLLY. 275 

wrote in favor of Haytian emigration. In concluding 
a long essay on this subject, in the Anglo- African 
Mag-azine, he says, — 

" From these thoughts it will be seen that whatso- 
ever is to be the future destiny of the descendants of 
Africa, Hayti certainly holds the most important rela- 
tion to that destiny. And if we were to be reduced 
to the dread alternative of hgving her historic fame 
blotted out of existence, or that celebrity which may 
have been acquired elsewhere by all the rest of our 
race combined, we should say, Preserve the name, the 
fame, and the sovereign existence of Hayti, though 
every tiling else shall perish. Yes, let Britain and 
France undermine, if they will, the enfranchisement 
which they gave to their West Indian slaves, by their 
present apprenticeship system ; let the lone star of Li- 
beria, placed in the firmament of nationalities by a 
questionable system of American philanthropy, go out 
in darkness ; let the opening resources of Central 
Africa be again shut up in their wonted seclusion ; let 
the names and deeds of our Nat Turners, Denmark 
Veseys, Penningtons, Delanys, Douglasses, and Smiths 
be forgotten forever; but never let the self-emancipat- 
ing deeds of the Haytian people be effaced ; never let 
her heroically achieved nationality be brought low ; no, 
never let the names of her Toussaint, her Dessalines, 
her Rigaud, her Christophe, and her Petion be forgot- 
ten, or blotted out from the historic pages of the world's 
history." 

Mr. Holly is a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal 
order, and for several years was pastor of a church at 
New Haven, Connecticut, where he sustained the repu- 
tation of being an interesting and eloquent preacher. 



276 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

His reading is at times rapid, yet clear and emphatic. 
He seems to aim more at what he says than how he 
says it ; and if you listen, you will find food for thought 
in every phrase. As a writer he is forcible and argu- 
mentative, but never dull. In person, Mr. Holly is of 
the ordinary size, has a bright eye, agreeable counte- 
nance, form erect, voice clear and mellow. He uses 
good language, is. precise in his manners, and wears 
the air of a gentleman* Infatuated with the idea of a 
home in Hayti, he raised a colony and sailed for Port 
au Prince in the spring of 1861. He was unfortunate 
in the selection of a location, and the most of those 
who went out with him, including his own family, died 
during their first six months on the island. Mr. Holly 
has recently returned to the United States. Whether 
he intends to remain or not, we are not informed. 



JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON. 

Dr. Pennington was born a slave "811 the farm of 
Colonel Gordon, in the State of Maryland. His early 
life was not unlike the common lot of the bondmen of 
the Middle States. He was by trade a blacksmith, which 
increased his value to his owner. He had no oppor- 
tunities for learning, and was ignorant of letters when 
he made his escape to the north. Through intense 
application to books, he gained, as far as it was possible, 
what slavery had deprived him of in his younger days. 
But he always felt the early blight upon his soul. 

Dr. Pennington had not been free long ere he turned 
his attention to theology, and became an efficient 



JAMES W. C. PENNINGTON. 277 

preacher in the Presbyterian denomination. He was 
several years settled over a church at Hartford, Conn. 
He has been in Europe three times, his second visit 
being the most important, as he remained there three 
or four years, preaching and lecturing, during which 
time he attended the Peace Congresses held at Paris, 
Brussels, and London. While in Germany, the de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him 
by the University of Heidelberg. On his return to 
the United States he received a call, and was settled 
as pastor over Shiloh Church, New York city. 

The doctor has been a good student, is a ripe schol- 
ar, and is deeply versed in theology. While at Paris, 
in 1849, we, with the American and English delegates 
to the Peace Congress, attended divine service at the 
Protestant Church, where Dr. Pennington had been 
invited to preach. His sermon on that occasion was 
an eloquent production, made a marked impression on 
his hearers, and created upon the minds of all a more 
elevated idea of the abilities of the negro. In past 
years he has labored zealously and successfully for the 
education and moral, social, and religious elevation of 
his race. The doctor is unadulterated in blood, with 
strongly-marked African features ; in stature he is of 
the common size, slightly inclined to corpulency, with 
an athletic frame and a good constitution. The fact 
that Dr. Pennington is considered a good Greek, Lat- 
in, and German scholar, although his early life was 
spent in slavery, is not more strange than that Henry 
Diaz, the black commander in Brazil, is extolled in all 
the histories of that country as one of the most saga- 
cious and talented men and experienced officers of 
whom they could boast ; nor that Hannibal, an African, 
24 



278 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

gained by his own exertion a good education, and 
rose to be a lieutenant-general and director of ar- 
tillery under Peter the Great ; nor that Don Juan La- 
tino, a negro, became teacher of the Latin language at 
Seville ; nor that Anthony William Amo, a native of 
Guinea, took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the 
University of Wittemburg ; nor that James J. Capetein, 
fresh from the coast of Africa, became master of the 
Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldaic languages; nor that 
James Derham, an imported negro, should, by his own 
genius and energy, be considered one of the ablest phy- 
sicians in New Orleans, and of whom Dr. Rush says, " I 
found him very learned. I thought I could give him 
information concerning the treatment of diseases ; but I 
learned more from him than he could expect from me." 
We might easily extend the catalogue, for we have 
abundant materials. Blumenbach boldly affirms of the 
negro, " There is no savage people who have distin- 
guished themselves by such examples of perfectibility 
and capacity for scientific cultivation." 



A MAN WITHOUT A NAME. 

It was in the month of December, 1852, while Colo- 
nel Rice and family were seated around a bright wood 
fire, whose blaze lighted up the large dining room in 
their old mansion, situated ten miles from Dayton, in 
the State of Ohio, that they heard a knock at the door, 
which was answered by the familiar " Come in " that 
always greets the stranger in the Western States. 
Squire Loomis walked in and took a seat on one of 



A MAN WITHOUT A NAME. 279 

the three rocking-chairs, which had been made vacant 
by the young folks, who rose to give place to their 
highly influential and wealthy neighbor. It was a 
beautiful night ; the sky was clear, the wind had 
hushed its deep moanings, the most brilliant of the 
starry throng stood out in bold relief, despite the supe- 
rior light of the moon. " I see some one standing at 
the gate," said Mrs. Rice, as she left the window and 
came nearer the fire. " I'll go out and see who it is," 
exclaimed George, as he quitted his chair and started 
for the door. The latter soon returned and whispered 
to his father, and both left the room, evincing that 
something unusual was at hand. Not many minutes 
elapsed, however, before the father and son entered, 
accompanied by a young man, whose complexion 
showed plainly that other than Anglo-Saxon blood 
coursed through his veins. The whole company rose, 
and the stranger was invited to draw near to the fire. 
Question after question was now pressed upon the 
new-comer by the colonel and the squire, but without 
eliciting satisfactory replies. 

" You need not be afraid, my friend," said the host, 
as he looked intently in the colored man's face, " to 
tell where you are from and to what place you are 
going. If you are a fugitive, as I suspect, give us 
your story, and we will protect and defend you to the 
last." 

Taking courage from these kind remarks, the mu- 
latto said, " I was born, sir, in the State of Ken- 
tucky, and raised in Missouri. My master was my 
father ; my mother was his slave. That, sir, accounts 
for the fairness of my complexion. As soon as I was 
old enough to labor I was taken into my master's 



280 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

dwelling as a servant, to attend upon the family. My 
mistress, aware of my near relationship to her hus- 
band, felt humiliated, and often in her anger would 
punish me severely for no cause whatever. My near 
approach to the Anglo-Saxon aroused the jealousy and 
hatred of the overseer, and he flogged me, as he said, 
to make me know my place. My fellow-slaves hated 
me because I was whiter than themselves. Thus my 
complexion was construed into a crime, and I was 
made to curse my father for the Anglo-Saxon blood 
that courses through my veins. 

" My master raised slaves to supply the southern 
market, and every year some of my companions were 
sold to the slave-traders and taken farther south. 
Husbands were separated from their wives, and chil- 
dren torn from the arms of their agonizing mothers. 
These outrages were committed by the man whom na- 
ture compelled me to look upon as my father. My 
mother and brothers were sold and taken away from 
me ; still I bore all, and made no attempt to escape, 
for I yet had near me an only sister, whom I dearly 
loved. At last, the negro driver attempted to rob my 
sister of her virtue. She appealed to me for protec- 
tion. Her innocence, beauty, and tears were enough 
to stir the stoutest heart. My own, filled with grief 
and indignation, swelled within me as though it would 
burst or leap from my bosom. My tears refused to 
flow : the fever in my brain dried them up. I could 
stand it no longer. I seized the wretch by the throat, 
and hurled him to the ground ; and with this strong 
arm I paid him for old and new. The next day I was 
tried by a jury of slaveholders for the crime of having 
within me the heart of a man, and protecting my sister 



A MAN WITHOUT A NAM!-]. 281 

from the licentious embrace of a libertine. And — 
would you believe it, sir? — that jury of enlightened 
Americans, — yes, sir, Christian Americans, — after 
grave deliberation, decided that I had broken the laws, 
and sentenced me to receive five hundred lashes upon 
my bare back. But, sir, I escaped from them the night 
before I was to have been flogged. 

" Afraid of being arrested and taken back, I re- 
mained the following day hid away in a secluded spot 
on the banks of the Mississippi River, protected from 
the gaze of man by the large trees and thick cane- 
brakes that sheltered me. I waited for the coming of 
another night. All was silence around me, save the 
sweet chant of the feathered songsters in the forest, or 
the musical ripple of the eddying waters at my feet. I 
watched the majestic bluffs as they gradually faded 
away, through the gray twilight, from the face of day 
into- the darker shades of night. I then turned to the 
rising moon as it peered above, ascending the deep 
blue ether, high in the heavens, casting its mellow rays 
over the surrounding landscape, and gilding the smooth 
surface of the noble river with its silvery hue. I viewed 
with interest the stars as they appeared, one after an- 
other, in the firmament. It was then and there that I 
studied nature in its lonely grandeur, and saw in it the 
goodness of God, and felt that He who created so 
much beauty, and permitted the fowls of the air and 
the beasts of the field to roam at large and be free, 
never intended that man should be the slave of his fel- 
low-man. I resolved that I would be a bondman no 
longer ; and, taking for my guide the north star, I 
started for Canada, the negro's land of liberty. For 
many weeks I travelled by night, and lay by during 
24* 



282 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

the day. 0, how often, while hid away in the forest, 
waiting for nightfall, have I thought of the beautiful 
lines I once heard a stranger recite : — 

< 0, hail Columbia ! happy land ! 

The cradle land of liberty ! 
Where none but negroes bear the brand, 
Or feel the lash of slavery. 

' Then let the glorious anthem peal, 

And drown "Britannia rules the waves: " 
Strike up the song that men can feel — 
" Columbia rules four million slaves! " ' 

" At last I arrived at a depot of the Underground 
Railroad, took the express train, and here I am." 

" You are welcome," said Colonel Rice, as he rose 
from his chair, walked to the window and looked out, 
as if apprehensive that the fugitive's pursuers were 
near by. " You are welcome," continued he ; " and I 
will aid you on your way to Canada, for you are hot 
safe here." 

" Are you not afraid of breaking the laws by assist- 
ing this man to escape ? " remarked Squire Loomis. 

" I care not for laws when they stand in the way of 
humanity," replied the colonel. 

" If you aid him in reaching Canada, and we should 
ever have a war with England, may be he'll take up 
arms and fight against his own country," said the squire. 

The fugitive eyed the law-abiding man attentively 
for a moment, and then exclaimed, " Take up anus 
against my country ? What country, sir, have I ? The 
Supreme Court of the United States, and the laws of 
the south, doom me to be the slave of another. There 
is not a foot of soil over which the stars and stripes 



A MAN WITHOUT A NAME. 283 

wave, whore I can stand and be protected by law. 
I've seen my mother sold in the cattle market. I 
looked upon my brothers as they were driven away in 
chains by the slave speculator. The heavy negro whip 
has been applied to my own shoulders until its biting 
lash sunk deep into my quivering flesh. Still, sir, you 
call this my country. True, true, I was born in this 
land. My grandfather fought in the revolutionary 
war ; my own father was in the war of 1812. Still, 
sir, I am a slave, a chattel, a thing, a piece of property. 
I've been sold in the market with horses and swine ; 
the initials of my master's name are branded deep in 
this arm. Still, sir, you call this my country. And, 
now that I am making my escape, you feel afraid, 
if I reach Canada, and there should be war with Eng- 
land, that I will take up arms against my own coun- 
try. Sir, I have no country but the grave ; and I'll 
seek freedom there before I will again be taken back 
to slavery. There is no justice for me at the south ; 
every right of my race is trampled in the dust, until 
humanity bleeds at every pore. I am bound for Can- 
ada, and woe to him that shall attempt to arrest me. 
If it comes to the worst, I will die fighting for free- 
dom." 

" I honor you for your courage," exclaimed Squire 
Loomis, as he sprang from his seat, and walked rapidly 
to and fro through the room. " It is too bad," contin- 
ued he, " that such men should be enslaved in a land 
whose Declaration of Independence proclaims all men 
to be free and equal. I will aid you in any thing 
that I can. What is your name ? " 

" I have no name," said the fugitive. " I once had 
a name, — it was William, — but my master's nephew 



284 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS, 

came to liv*e with him, and as I was a house servant, 
and the young master and I would, at times, get con- 
fused in the same name, orders were given for me to 
change mine. From that moment, I resolved that, as 
slavery had robbed me of my liberty and my name, I 
would not attempt to have another till I was free. So, 
sir, for once you have a man standing before you with- 
out a name." 



SAMUEL R. WARD. 

Few public speakers exercised greater influence in 
the pulpit and on the platform, in behalf of human 
freedom, than did Samuel R. Ward, in the early days of 
abolition agitation. From 1840 up to the passage of the 
Fugitive Slave Law, in 1850, he either preached or lec- 
tured in every church, hall, or school house in Western 
and Central New York. Endowed with superior mental 
powers, and having, through the aid of Hon. Gerrit 
Smith, obtained a good education, and being a close 
student, Mr. Ward's intellectual faculties are well de- 
veloped. He was, for several years, settled over a 
white congregation, of the Presbyterian order, at South 
Butler, N. Y., where he preached with great accept- 
ance, and was highly respected. As a speaker, he was 
justly held up as one of the ablest men, white or black, 
in the United States. The first time we ever heard 
him, (in 1842,) he was announced in the advertisement 
as " the black Daniel Webster." Standing above sis 
feet in height, possessing a strong voice, and energetic 
in his gestures, Mr. Ward always impressed his highly 
finished and logical speeches upon his hearers. No 



SAMUhX R. WARD. 285 

detractor of the negro's abilities ever attributed his tal- 
ents to his having Anglo-Saxon blood in his veins. As 
a black man, Mr. Ward was never ashamed of his com- 
plexion, but rather appeared to feel proud of it. When 
Captain Rynders and his followers took possession 
of the platform of the American Anti-Slavery Society, 
at their anniversary, in New York, in the spring of 
1852, Frederick Douglass rose to defend the rights of 
the Association and the liberty of speech. Rynders 
objected to the speaker upon the ground that he was 
not a negro, but half white. Ward, being present, 
came forward, amid great applause, and the rowdy 
leader had to " knock under," and confess that gen- 
uine eloquence was not confined to the white man. 
William J. Wilson says of Ward, " Ideas form the ba- 
sis of all Mr. Ward utters. If words and ideas are not 
inseparable, then, as mortar is to the stones that com- 
pose the building, so are his words to his ideas. In 
this, I judge, lies Mr. Ward's greatest strength. Con- 
cise without abruptness ; without extraordinary stress, 
always clear and forcible ; if sparing of ornament, never 
inelegant, — in all, there appears a consciousness of 
strength, developed by close study and deep reflection, 
and only put forth because the occasion demands it. 
His appeals are directed rather to the understanding 
than the imagination ; but so forcibly do they take 
possession of it, that the heart unhesitatingly yields." 
Mr. Ward visited England in 1852, where he was 
regarded as an eloquent advocate of the rights of his 
race. He now resides at Kingston, Jamaica. 



286 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



SIR EDWARD JORDAN. 

Edward Jordan was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 
the year 1798. After quitting school he entered a 
clothing store as a clerk ; but his deep hatred to slavery, 
and the political and social outrages committed upon 
the free colored men, preyed upon his mind to such an 
extent that, in 1826, he associated himself with Robert 
Osborn, in the publication of The Watchman, a weekly 
newspaper devoted to the freedom and enfranchisement 
of the people of color. His journal was conducted 
with marked ability, and Mr. Jordan soon began to 
wield a tremendous influence against the slave power. 
While absent from his editorial duties, in 1830, an ar- 
ticle appeared in The Watchman, upon which its editor 
was indicted for constructive treason. He was at once 
arrested, placed in the dock, and arraigned for trial. 
He pleaded " not guilty," and asked for time to pre- 
pare for his defence. The plea was allowed, and the 
case was traversed to the next court. The trial came 
on at the appointed time ; the jury was packed, for the 
pro-slavery element had determined on the conviction 
of the distinguished advocate of liberty. The whole 
city appeared to be lost to every thing but the proceed- 
ings of the assize. It was feared, that, if convicted, a 
riot would be the result, and the authorities prepared 
for this. A vessel of war was brought up abreast of 
the city, the guns of which were pointed up one of the 
principal streets, and at almost every avenue leading 
to the sea, a merchant vessel was moored, armed at 
least with one great gun, pointing in a similar direc- 



SIR EDWARD JORDAN. 287 

tion, to rake the streets from bottom to top. A detach- 
ment of soldiers was kept under arms, with orders to 
be ready £pr action at a moment's warning. The offi- 
cers of the court, including the judge, entered upon 
their duties, armed with pistols ; and the sheriff was 
instructed to shoot the prisoner in the dock if a rescue 
was attempted. If convicted, Mr. Jordan's punish- 
ment was to be death. Happily for all, the verdict 
was " not guilty." The acquittal of the editor of 
The Watchman carried disappointment and dismay 
into the ranks of the slave oligarchy, while it gave a 
new impetus to the anti-slavery cause, both in Jamaica 
and in Great Britain, and which culminated in the 
abolition of slavery on the 1st of August, 1834. The 
following year, Mr. Jordan was elected member of the 
Assembly for the city of Kingston, which he still 
represents. About this time, The Watchman was 
converted into a daily paper, under the title of The 
Morning Journal, still in existence, and owned by 
Jordan and Osborn. In 1853, Mr. Jordan was elected 
mayor of his native city without opposition, which 
office he still holds. He was recently chosen premier 
of the island and president of the privy council. 

No man is more respected in the Assembly than Mr. 
Jordan, and reform measures offered by him are often 
carried through the house, owing to the respect the 
members have for the introducer. In the year 1860, 
the honorable gentleman was elevated to the dignity 
of knighthood by the Queen. Sir Edward Jordan has 
ever been regarded as an honest, upright, and tem- 
perate man. In a literary point of view, he is con- 
sidered one of the first men in Jamaica. 

It is indeed a cheering sign for the negro to look 



288 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

at one of his race, who, a few years ago, was tried for 
his life in a city in which he is now the chief magis- 
trate, inspector of the prison in which he was once 
incarcerated, and occupying a seat in the legislature by 
the side of the white man who ejected him from his 
position as a clerk, on account of his color. To those 
who say that the two races cannot live in peace to- 
gether, we point to the Jamaica Assembly, with more 
than half of its members colored ; and to all who think 
that the negro is only fit for servitude, we reply by 
saying, Look at Sir Edward Jordan. 



JOSEPH CARTER. 

The subject of this sketch is a native of the city of 
Bridgetown, Barbadoes, where he was born on the 16th 
of February, 1831. At the early age of eleven years, 
he was apprenticed to William Howell, a cabinet- 
maker of his native place. The boy showed so much 
genius and skill even at this tender age, that he ex- 
cited an interest in his behalf, which culminated in his 
becoming the ward of Miss Hayes, a talented lady, of 
English origin, whose guardianship of young Carter 
did much to pave the way for the development of his 
hidden powers. In his seventeenth year, Joseph came 
to the States in company with his guardian, and settled 
in the city of Philadelphia, where he now resides. 
Buoyant with hopes, knowing his own capacity, and 
aspiring in his nature, the young man went forth in 
search of employment, little dreaming of the insur- 



JOSEPH CARTER. 289 

mountable prejudice which every man of his color has 
to meet in this country, and more especially in cities 
in the border states. In vain he went from shop to 
shop, appealing for simple justice, feeling confident 
that if once in employment, he could keep his situation 
by his ability as a workman. Wherever he appeared 
before a manufacturer, the reply was, " I would hire 
you if my hands, who are white, would not leave me." 
This calls to mind an incident that was related to me 
by a master gilder in Sixth Street, Philadelphia, a few 
years since. I had stepped into his place to purchase a 
picture frame, when, on learning that I was from Bos- 
ton, he inquired if I was acquainted with Jacob R. 
Andrews. I replied that I was. " Then," said he, 
" do you see that bench there? " " Yes." " There was 
where he learned his trade." " Was he apprenticed 
to you ? " I inquired. " No," said he ; " he came to 
me, wishing to learn the business : my men refused to 
work in the same room with him, although he was as 
white as most of them. So, rather than turn him 
away, I put up a table there, and set him to work. In 
a short time he was able to turn out as good a job as 
any man in the establishment. He worked for me 
several years, and I must say that I never had a better 
workman, or a more reliable man in every respect, than 
he. Andrews often waited on my customers in my 
absence, and, whether at the bench at work or behind 
the counter, he was always the gentleman." I was 
pleased to hear so favorable an account of Mr. An- 
drews, for I had formed a high opinion of him, both as 
a man of integrity and a mechanic. He is now a 
flourishing manufacturer himself, in Beach Street, Bos- 
25 



290 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

ton, where he can count among his patrons some of 
the first families in the city. Mr. Carter, therefore, 
had energy similar to Mr. Andrews, and kept applying 
till he obtained work. A writer, to whom I am in- 
debted for the early history of my subject, says, " Two 
years after his arrival we find Carter in business, man- 
ufacturing all sorts of furniture, from a pine table to 
the rarest cabinet. In 1859 we find him building 
organs for churches. One of the principal churches 
in this city (Philadelphia) has an organ manufactured 
by him. The whole work is done by his own hands ; 
the rough stuff enters his establishment, and leaves it 
a perfect specimen of art and ingenuity, pure and mel- 
low in tone, and polished, and carved, and elegantly 
finished. Unlike those extensive manufactories having 
branches and departments for fashioning the various 
portions of such instruments, his has none. You 
know it is said of the ancient Egyptians that their 
sculpture had an odd and awkward appearance, be- 
cause their sculptors never chiselled out an entire 
figure. Some made the arms, some the legs, some the 
body, some the head. Perhaps Mr. Carter has the 
advantage of more extensive manufacturers by giving 
uniqueness and symmetry to his instruments. He is 
now making a very large one to order, having nine 
stops and pedals. The one he proposes to send to the 
Art Exhibition is an elaborately finished one of five 
stops and pedals, of walnut, carved, gothic style, and 
of exceeding richness of tone. This business he has 
taken up without ever receiving an hour's instruction 
He was imperceptibly drawn into it through a fondness 
for music. He purchased a melodeon for his own use 



JAMES LAWSON. 291 

and amusement, and feeling the want of more stops 
and pedals, set about the work ; and this attempt not 
being satisfactory, he built an organ which proved to 
be a very excellent one." 



JAMES LAWSON 



James Lawson was born in slavery in the State of 
Virginia, where, for many years, he was the chief man 
on his master's plantation ; and when the rebellion 
broke out, the rebel owner felt sure, from James's for- 
mer fidelity, that he would stand by him in that con- 
test. So confident was he of this, that he sent the 
chattel to an important military station with the fol- 
lowing recommendation : " You may trust Jim in 
any way that you can use him, for he has been my 
slave fourteen years, and I never knew him to deceive 
me or any member of my family. Indeed, I have 
more respect, esteem, and good feeling for him, and 
more confidence in his integrity, than any white man 
of my acquaintance. He is able to undertake any 
affair, of either great or small importance." 

When the history of the " Slaveholders' Rebellion " 
shall be impartially written, it will be found that no 
class has done more good service to the Union cause, 
and were more reliable in every respect, than those 
who had formerly been slaves. A correspondent of the 
" New York Times," writing from the head-quarters of 
the army of the Potomac, July 29, 1862, says, " Some 
of the most valuable information McClellan has re- 



292 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

ceived in regard to the position, movements and plans 
of the enemy, the topography of the country, and the 
inclination of certain inhabitants, has been obtained 
through contrabands. Even spies and traitors have 
been detected, and brought before the proper author- 
ities, upon evidence furnished by this much-abused, 
but generally loyal class of people." 

Probably no ten men have done so much in the way 
of giving information and performing daring acts in 
the enemy's immediate locality, as James Lawson. At 
one time we find him mounted on horseback, riding 
with the commanding general and his staff, piloting 
the Union forces through the enemy's country, and at 
another heading a scouting party, and saving them 
all from capture, by his superior knowledge of the 
district through which they travelled. After doing 
considerable service for the army, " Jim," as he was 
generally called, shipped on board the flag gunboat 
Freeborn, Lieutenant Samuel Magaw commanding. 
An officer from that vessel says of Jim, " He furnished 
Captain Magaw with much valuable intelligence con- 
cerning the rebel movements, and, from his quiet, 
every-day behavior, soon won the esteem of the com- 
manding officer. 

" Captain Magaw, shortly after Jim's arrival on board 
the Freeborn, sent him upon a scouting tour through 
the rebel fortifications, more to test his reliability than 
any thing else ; and the mission, although fraught 
with great danger, was executed by Jim in the most 
faithful manner. Again Jim was sent into Virginia, 
landing at the White House, below Mount Vernon, 
and going into the interior for several miles, encoun- 



JAMES LAWSON. 293 

tering the fire of picket guards and posted sentries, 
returned in safety to the shore, and was brought 
off in the captain's gig, under the fire of the rebel 
musketry. 

" Jim had a wife and four children at that time still 
in Virginia. They belonged to the same man as Jim 
did. He was anxious to get them ; yet it seemed im- 
possible. One day in January Jim came to the cap- 
tain's room and asked for permission to be landed that 
evening on the Virginia side, as he wished to bring off 
his family. ' Why, Jim,' said Captain Magaw, ; how 
will you be able to pass the pickets ? ' 

" ' I want to try, captain. I think I can get 'em over 
safely,' meekly replied Jim. 

" ' Well, you have my permission ; ' and Captain 
Magaw ordered one of the gunboats to land Jim that 
night on whatever part of the shore Jim designated, 
and return for him the following evening. 

" True to his appointment, Jim was at the spot with 
his wife and family, and were taken on board the gun- 
boat, and brought over to Liverpool Point, where Colo- 
nel Graham had given them a log house to live in, just 
back of his own quarters. Jim ran the gantlet of 
the sentries unharmed, never taking to the roads, but 
keeping in the woods, every foot-path of which, and 
almost every tree, he knew from his boyhood up. 

" Several weeks afterwards, another reconnoissance 
was planned, and Jim sent on it. He returned in safety, 
and was highly complimented by Generals Hooker, 
Sickles, and the entire flotilla. 

" On Thursday, a week ago, it became necessary to 
obtain correct information of the enemy's movements. 
25* 



294 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

Since then, batteries at Shipping and Cockpit Points 
had been evacuated, and their troops moved to Fred- 
ericksburg. Jim was the man picked out for the 
occasion by General Sickles and Captain Magaw. The 
general came down to Colonel Graham's quarters 
about nine in the evening, and sent for Jim. There 
were present the general, Colonel Graham, and myself. 
Jim came into the colonel's. 

" 'Jim,' said the general, ' I want you to go over to 
Virginia to-night and find out what forces they have 
at Aquia Creek and Fredericksburg. If you want any 
men to accompany you, pick them out.' 

" ' I know two men that would like to go,' Jim an- 
swered. 

" ' Well, get them and be back as soon as possible.' 

" Away went Jim over 'to the contraband camp, and 
returning almost immediately, brought into our pres- 
ence two very intelligent looking men. 

'"Are you all ready ? ' inquired the general. 

" ' All ready, sir,' the trio responded. 

" ' "Well, here, Jim, you take my pistol,' said General 
Sickles, unbuckling it from his belt, * and if you are 
successful, I will give you a hundred dollars.' 

" Jim hoped he would be, and bidding us good by, 
started off for the gunboat Satellite, Captain Foster, 
who landed them a short distance below the Potomac 
Creek Batteries. They were to return early in the 
morning, but were unable, from the great distance 
they went in the interior. Long before daylight on 
Saturday morning the gunboat was lying off the ap- 
pointed place. 

" As the day dawned, Captain Foster discovered a 



JAMES LAWSON. 295 

mounted picket guard near the beach, and almost at 
the same instant saw Jim to the left of them, in the 
woods, sighting his gun at the rebel cavalry. He 
ordered the 'gig' to be manned and rowed to the 
shore. The rebels moved along slowly, thinking to 
intercept the boat, when Foster gave them a shell, 
which scattered them. Jim, with only one of his 
original companions, and two fresh contrabands, came 
on board. Jim had lost the other. He had been chal- 
lenged by a picket when some distance in advance of 
Jim, and the negro, instead of answering the sum- 
mons, fired the contents of Sickles's revolver at the 
picket. It was an unfortunate occurrence, for at that 
time the entire picket guard rushed out of a small 
house near the spot, and fired the contents of their 
muskets at Jim's companion, killing him instantly. 
Jim and the other three hid themselves in a hollow, 
near a fence, and after the pickets gave up pursuit, 
crept through the woods to the shore. From the 
close proximity of the rebel pickets, Jim could not 
display a light, which was the signal for Foster to send 
a boat. 

" Captain Foster, after hearing Jim's story of the 
shooting of his companion, determined to avenge his 
death ; so, steaming his vessel close in to the shore, he 
sighted his guns for a barn, which the rebel cavalry 
were hiding behind. He fired two shells : one went 
right through the barn, killing four of the rebels and 
seven of their horses. Captain Foster, seeing the 
effect of his shots, said to Jim, who stood by, ' Well, 
Jim, I've avenged the death of poor Cornelius ' (the 
name of Jim's lost companion). 



296 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

" General Hooker has transmitted to the war depart- 
ment an account of Jim's reconnoissance to Fredericks- 
burg, and unites with the army and navy stationed on 
the left wing of the Potomac, in the hope that the 
government will present Jim with a fitting recom- 
pense for his gallant services." 

The gunboat soon after was ordered to Newbern, 
N. C, where James Lavvson was again to be the centre 
of attraction, but in a new character. Anxious that 
his fellow-slaves (many of whom had shipped in the 
same vessel) should excel as oarsmen, he was fre- 
quently out practising with them, until a race was 
agreed upon, in which the blacks were to pull against 
the whites. A correspondent of the " New York 
Times " gives the following as the result : — 

" One of the two boats entered was manned by six 
contraband seamen, beautifully attired in man-of-war 
costume, and the other was manned by eight white 
seamen, who were considered the crack crew of these 
waters. Distance was offered the contraband crew, 
who had only been seamen some three months ; but 
their captain refused to accept of any advantage what- 
ever, and insisted on giving the white seamen the ad- 
vantage of two men. Every thing being in readiness, 
the word was given, and off went the boats, throwing 
the crowd, white and black, into the most intense 
excitement. Judge of the astonishment of all, when 
the boat containing the contrabands was seen to turn 
the mile post first ; and great was the excitement and 
deafening were the cheers as they came in some three 
rods in advance of the white crew, who were dripping 
with perspiration, and thoroughly mortified at the 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 297 

■unexpected result. They were inclined to think the 
contest an unfair one, until the captain of the contra- 
bands offered to renew the race by having the crews 
exchange boats, which proposition was not accepted by 
the white seamen for fear of a like result. The cap- 
tain said his contrabands could not only pull a small 
boat faster and with more steadiness than the same 
number of white seamen, but that they, with others he 
had on board, could man his big guns with more agili- 
ty and skill in time of action than any white seamen 
he had ever seen." 

Mr. Lawson, at last accounts, was holding a promi- 
nent office in General Foster's command. 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 

" In war was never lion's rage so fierce ; 
In peace was never gentle lamb more mild." 

Shakspeare. 

Revolutions are occasioned by the growth of so- 
ciety beyond the growth of government, and they will 
be peaceful or violent just in proportion as the people 
and government shall be wise and virtuous or vicious 
and ignorant. Such revolutions or reforms are gener- 
ally of a peaceful nature in communities in which the 
government has made provision for the gradual expan- 
sion of its institutions, to suit the onward march of 
society. No government is wise in overlooking, what- 
ever may be the strength of its own traditions, or 
however glorious its history, that human institutions 
will outlive their time ; that those institutions which 



298 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

have been adapted for a barbarous state of society, 
will cease to be adapted for more civilized and intelli- 
gent times ; and unless government make a provision 
for the gradual expansion, nothing can prevent a 
storm, either of an intellectual or a physical nature. 

The great American rebellion, therefore, is a legiti- 
mate revolution growing out of the incongruity of 
freedom and slavery ; and the first gun fired at Sum- 
ter was hailed by every true friend of freedom, and 
especially the negro, as the dawn of a brighter day 
for the black man. But it was evident, from the com- 
mencement of the clash of arms, that the despised 
race was to take no part in their exercise, unless the 
Federal authorities were forced into it by the magni- 
tude of the rebellion. His services refused by the 
Federal government, all classes declaring that they 
would not " fight by the side of a nig-g-er" the black 
man had nothing to do but to fold his arms and bide 
his time. Defeat after defeat appeared to make no 
change in the pro-slavery public mind, for the nation 
seemed determined to perish rather than receive help 
from a black hand. The rout at Bull Run, the sad 
affair at Ball's Bluff, the unfortunate mistake at Big 
Bethel, the loss of 100,000 brave men during the first 
fifteen months of the rebellion, and the display of 
Copperhead feeling in the Northern States, caused the 
far-seeing ones to feel that the ship of state was fast 
drifting to sea without a rudder. The announcement 
that a proclamation of emancipation would be issued 
on the 1st of January, 1863, brought forth a howl 
of denunciation from those who despised the negro 
more than they did the rebels. Still the cry rose from 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 299 

the majority, " Let the republic perish rather than see 
the nigger in uniform." 

All this time, the black man was silently, yet stead- 
ily, creating an under-current, which was, at a later 
day, to carry him to the battle field. The heroic act 
of Tillman on the high seas, the "strategy" of Captain 
Small in taking the Planter past the guns of Sumter, 
and the reliable intelligence conveyed to the Union 
army by "intelligent contrabands," — all tended to 
soften the negro hate, and to pave the way for justice. 
All honor to the " New York Tribune," for its noble 
defence of my race, and its advocacy of the black 
man's right to bear arms. The organization of negro 
regiments once begun by General Hunter, soon found 
favor with the more liberal portion of the northern 
people. 

By and by, that brave, generous, and highly culti- 
vated scholar, gentleman, and Christian, Thomas Went- 
worth Higginson, lent the influence of his name, and 
accepted an office in the first South Carolina regi- 
ment, made an excursion into the heart of slavery, 
met the rebels and defeated them with his negro sol- 
diers, and reported through the public journals what 
he had witnessed of the black man's ability on the 
field of battle. Then the tide begun to turn. 

The announcement that a regiment of colored sol- 
diers was to be raised in Massachusetts, created an- 
other sensation among the Copperheads, and no means 
were left unused to deter them from enlisting. An 
early prejudice was brought against the movement, 
owing to the fact that the commissioned officers were 
white, and no door was to be opened to the black 



300 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

man's elevation. Would colored men enlist under 
such restrictions? was a question askecl in every circle. 
All admitted that they had no inducement, save that 
of a wish to aid in freeing their brethren of the south. 

Disfranchised in a majority of the free states, labor- 
ing under an inhuman and withering prejudice, shut 
out of the political, religious, and social associations 
of the nation, the black man's case was a hard one. 
In the past, every weapon that genius or ignorance 
could invent or command had been turned against 
him. Missiles had been hurled at his devoted head 
from every quarter. 

The pulpit, the platform, and the press, had all 
united against him. The statesman in the councils 
of the nation had lowered his standard in his attempts 
to dehumanize the negro ; the scholar had forgotten 
his calling while turning aside to coin epithets against 
the race. All of this he would have to forget before 
he could accept the musket and the knapsack. Yet 
he did forget all, and in a few short days the Massa- 
chusetts fifty-fourth regiment stood before the coun- 
try as another evidence of the black man's fidelity and 
patriotism. It is but simple justice to say of this 
regiment, that the adjutant general, on its departure 
for the seat of war, paid it the high compliment of 
being the most sober and well behaved, and of having 
cost less for its organization, than any regiment that had 
left the commonwealth, and that it was better drilled 
than all, except the twelfth. While the fifty-fourth, 
by its military skill and good order, was softening the 
hard hearts of the people north, the negro regiments 
of Louisiana were attracting attention by the bold- 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 801 

ness of their request to General Banks to be sent to 
the field of active duty, and to be put in the front of 
the fight. 

When New Orleans was captured by General Butler, 
he found there a regiment of colored men bearing the 
name of the " Native Guard." These men had been 
compelled to serve under the rebels ; but when the 
latter left the city, the former refused to follow, and 
embraced the earliest opportunity to offer their ser- 
vices to the Union cause. They were at once accepted 
by General Butler, under the title of the first Louis- 
iana regiment. 

The census of 1860 placed the number of the in- 
habitants of the city of New Orleans at 175,000. Of 
these, 15,000 were free colored, 10,000 were slaves, 
and the remainder were whites. The free colored' 
men were taxed for an average of $ 1000 to each per- 
son, while the white were taxed for only $732 to each 
person. The first Louisiana regiment was composed 
principally of this class of the free black population. 
The professions, the mercantile, and the trades were 
well represented, while not a few were men of ex- 
treme wealth. Nearly all were liberally, educated ; 
some were scholars of a high order. The brave, the 
enthusiastic, and the patriotic found full scope for the 
development of their powers in this regiment. One 
of the most efficient of the officers was Captain Cal- 
lioux, a man whose identity with his race could 
never be mistaken, for he prided himself on being the 
blackest individual in the Crescent City. Whether in 
the drawing-room or on the parade, he was ever the 
centre of attraction. Finely educated, polished in his 
26 



302 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

manners, a splendid horseman, a good boxer, bold, 
athletic, and daring, he never lacked admirers. His 
men were ready at any time to follow him to the can- 
non's mouth ; and he was as ready to lead them. Gen- 
eral Banks granted their request, and the regiment 
was brought before the rifle pits and heavy guns of 
Port Hudson on the 26th of May, 1863. Night fell — 
the lovely southern night, with its silvery moonshine 
on the gleaming waters of the Mississippi, that passed 
directly by the intrenched town. The glistening stars 
appeared suspended in the upper air as globes of 
liquid light, with its fresh, soft breeze, bearing such 
sweet scents from the odoriferous trees and plants, that 
a poet might have fancied angelic spirits were abroad, 
making the atmosphere luminous with their pure pres- 
ence, and every breeze fragrant with their luscious 
breath. Tbe deep-red sun that rose on the next 
morning indicated that the day would be warm, and, 
as it advanced, the heat became intense. The earth 
had been long parched, and the hitherto green verdure 
had begun to turn yellow. Clouds of dust followed 
every step and movement of the troops. The air was 
filled with dust ; clouds gathered, frowned upon the 
earth, and hastened away. The weatherwise watched 
the red masses of the morning, and still hoped for a 
shower to cool the air and lay the dust, before the 
work of death commenced ; but none came, and the 
very atmosphere seemed as if it was from an over- 
heated oven. The laying aside of all unnecessary ac- 
coutrements, and the preparation that showed itself on 
every side, told all present that the conflict was near 
at hand. General D wight was the officer in com- 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 303 

mand over the colored brigade, and his antecedents 
with regard to the rights and the ability of the negro 
were not of the most favorable character, and busy 
rumor, that knows every thing, had whispered it about, 
that the valor of the black man was to be put to the 
severest test that day. 

The black forces consisted of the first Louisiana, 
under Lieutenant-Colonel JBassett, and the third Lou- 
isiana, under Colonel Nelson. These officers were 
white, but the line officers of the first Louisiana 
were colored. The number of the colored troops 
was 1080 strong, and formed into four lines, Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Bassett, first Louisiana, forming the 
first line, and the others forming the second line. As 
the moment of attack drew near, the greatest sup- 
pressed excitement existed, but all were eager for the 
fight. Captain Callioux walked proudly up and down 
the line, and smilingly greeted the familiar faces of his 
company. Colonel Nelson being called to act as brig- 
adier-general, Lieutenant-Colonel Finnegas took his 
place. The third Louisiana was composed mostly of 
freed men, whose backs still bore the marks of the 
lash, and whose brave, stout hearts beat high at the 
thought that the hour had come when they were to 
meet their proud and unfeeling oppressors. New 
England officers and privates looked on, and asked 
each other what they thought would be the result. 
"Would these blacks stand fire ? Was not the test by 
which they were to be tried too severe ? 

The enemy, in his stronghold, felt his power, and 
bade defiance to the expected attack. At last, the 
welcome word was given, and our men started. The 



804 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

enemy opened a blistering fire of shell, canister, grape, 
and musketry. The first shell thrown by the enemy 
killed and wounded a number of the blacks ; but on 
they went. " Charge " was the word — 

" ' Charge ! ' Trump and drum awoke ; 
Onward the bondmen broke ; 
Bayonet and sabre-stroke 
Vainly opposed their rush." 
% 

At every pace the column was thinned by the falling 
dead and wounded. The negroes closed up steadily as 
their comrades fell, and advanced within fifty paces of 
where the rebels were working a masked battery, situa- 
ted on a bluff where the guns could sweep the whole 
field over which the troops must charge. This battery 
was on the left of the charging line. Another battery 
of three or four guns commanded the front, and six 
heavy pieces raked the right of the line as it formed, 
and enfiladed its flank and rear as it charged on the 
bluff. It was ascertained that a bayou ran under the 
bluff where the guns lay — a bayou deeper than a man 
could ford. This charge was repulsed with severe loss. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Finnegas was then ordered to 
charge, and in a well-dressed, steady line his men went 
on the double quick down over the field of death. No 
matter how gallantly the men behaved — no matter 
how bravely they were led — it was not in the course 
of things that this gallant brigade should take these 
works by charge. Yet charge after charge was or- 
dered, and carried oiit, under all these disasters, with 
Spartan firmness. Six charges in all were made. 
Colonel Nelson reported to General Dwight the fearful 
odds he had to contend with. Says General Dwight, 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. :'.<>.") 

in reply, " Tell Colonel Nelson I shall consider that 
he has accomplished nothing unless he takes those 
guns." Thus the last few charges were made under 
the spur of desperation. 

The ground was already strewn with the dead and 
wounded, and many of the brave officers had fallen 
early in the engagement. Among them was the gal- 
lant and highly-cultivated Anselms. He was a stan- 
dard-bearer, and hugged the Stars and Stripes to his 
heart as he fell forward upon them, pierced by five 
balls. Two corporals near by struggled between 
themselves as to who should have the honor of again 
raising those blood-stained emblems to the breeze. 
Each was eager for the honor, and during the struggle 
a missile from the enemy wounded one of them, and 
the other corporal shouldered the dear old flag in 
triumph, and bore it through the charge in the front 
of the advancing line. * 

Shells from the rebel guns cut down trees three 
feet in diameter, and they fell at one time burying 
a whole company beneath their branches. 

Thus they charged bravely on certain destruction, 
till the ground was slippery with the gore of the slaugh- 
tered, and cumbered with the bodies of the maimed. 
The last charge was made about one o'clock. 

At this juncture, Captain Callioux was seen with 
his left arm dangling by his side, — for a ball had broken 
it above the elbow, — while his right hand held his un- 
sheathed sword gleaming in the rays of the sun, and 
his hoarse, faint voice was heard cheering on his men. 
A moment more and the brave and generous Callioux 
was struck ij a shell, and fell far in advance of his 
26* 



306 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

company. The fall of this officer so exasperated his 
men, that they appeared to be filled with new enthusi- 
asm, and they rushed forward with a recklessness that 
probably never has been equalled. Seeing it to be a 
hopeless effort, the taking of these batteries, order was 
given to change the programme, and the troops were 
called off. But had they accomplished any thing more 
than the loss of many of their brave men ? Yes, they 
had. The self-forgetfulness, the undaunted heroism, 
and the great endurance of the negro, as exhibited 
that day, created a new chapter in American history 
for the black man. No negro hater will ever again 
dare to urge the withholding of our rights upon the 
plea that we will not fight. • 

The stale and stereotyped falsehood that the blacks 
are wanting in patriotism, was nailed to the counter 
as base coin, on the banks of the Mississippi. Many 
Persians were slain at the battle of Thermopylae, but 
history records only the fall of Leonidas and his four 
hundred companions. So, in the future, when we 
shall have passed away from the stage, and rising gen- 
erations shall speak of the conflict at Port Hudson, 
and the celebrated charge of the Negro Brigade, they 
will forget all others, in their admiration for Captain 
Callioux and his black associates. I should have said, 
the expedition against this strongly fortified place was 
Major-General Banks's, under whom the other officers 
acted. The commander, in his official report of the 
engagement, bears the following testimony to the 
bravery of the colored troops. He says, — 

" On the extreme right of our lines I posted the 
first and third regiments of negro troops. The first 
regiment of Louisiana engineers, composed exclusively 



CAPTAIN CALLIOUX. 307 

of colored men, excepting the officers, was also en- 
gaged in the operations of the day. The position 
occupied by these troops was one of importance, and 
called for the utmost steadiness "and bravery in those 
to whom it was confided. 

" It gives me pleasure to report that they answered 
every expectation. In many respects their conduct 
was heroic ; no troops could be more determined or 
more daring. They made, during tho day, three charges 
upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy 
losses, and holding their position at nightfall with the 
other troops on the right of our lines. The high- 
est commendation is bestowed upon them by all the 
officers in command on the right. 

" Whatever doubt may have existed heretofore as to 
the efficiency of organizations of this character, the 
history of this day proves conclusively to those who 
were in condition to observe the conduct of these regi- 
ments, that the government will find in this class of 
troops effective supporters and defenders. The severe 
test to which they were subjected, and the determined 
manner in which they encountered the enemy, leaves 
upon my mind no doubt of their ultimate success." 

The Hon. B. F. Flanders, writing from New Orleans, 
under date of June 2, 1863, pays the following tribute 
to the bravery of those invincible men : — 

" The unanimous report of all those who were in 
the recent severe fight at JPort Hudson, in regard to 
the negroes, is, that they fought like devils. They 
have completely conquered the prejudice of the army 
against them. Never was there before such an extra- 
ordinary revolution of sentiment as that of this army 
in respect to the negroes as soldiers." 



308 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 



CAPTAIN JOSEPH HOWARD. 

" Freemen, now's your day for doing — 
Great the issues in your hand ; 
Risk them not by faint pursuing, 
Peal the watchword through the land : 

On for Freedom, 
God, our Country, and the Eight ! " 

Among the colored troops which Major-General But- 
ler found at New Orleans, when that place was evac- 
uated by the rebels, was the Second Louisiana Native 
Guards. When General Banks superseded General 
Butler, and took command, the Second Louisiana was 
stationed at Baton Rouge. This was considered one 
of the finest regiments in that section. The line offi- 
cers were all colored, and the best discipline prevailed 
throughout the ranks. Nevertheless, the white officers 
of the New England troops, either through jealousy, 
or hatred to the colored men on account of their com- 
plexion, demanded that the latter should be turned 
out of office, and that their places be filled by whites, 
from the ranks of the other regiments. And to the 
everlasting shame of General Banks, and the disgrace 
of the Union cause, the gallant men who had got up 
the Second Louisiana regiment were dismissed. The 
order for this change had scarcely been promulgated 
ere the retiring officers found themselves the object of 
so much obloquy and abuse that they were forced to 
quit Baton Rouge and return to New Orleans. The 
colored soldiers were deeply pained at seeing the offi- 
cers oJ:' their choice taken from tliem, for they were 
much attached to their commanders, some of whom 



CAPTAIN J08EPH HOWARD. 309 

were special favorites with the whole regiment. 
Among these were First Lieutenant Joseph Howard, 
of Company I, and Second Lieutenant Joseph (i. 
Parker, of Company C. These gentlemen were botli 
possessed of ample wealth, and had entered the army, 
not as a matter of speculation, as too many have done, 
but from a love of military life. Their hatred of op- 
pression, and attachment to the Union cause, kept 
them from following the rebels in their hasty flight. 

Lieutenant Howard was a man of more than ordi- 
nary ability in military tactics, and a braver or more 
daring officer could not be found in the valley of the 
Mississippi. He was well educated, speaking the 
English, French, and Spanish languages fluently, and 
was considered a scholar of rare literarv attainments. 
He, with his friend, felt sorely the deep humiliation 
attending their dismissal, and they seldom showed 
themselves on the streets of their native city. 

When the news reached New Orleans of the heroic 
charge made by the first Louisiana regiment, at Port 
Hudson, on the 27th of May, Howard at once called 
on his friend Parker, and they were so fired with the 
intelligence that they determined to proceed to Port 
Hudson, and to join their old regiment as privates. 
That night they took passage, and the next day found 
them with their former friends in arms. The regiment 
was still in position, close to the enemy's works, and 
the appearance of the two lieutenants was hailed with 
demonstrations of joy. Instead of being placed as 
privates in the ranks, they were botli immediately 
assigned the command of a company each, not 
from any compliment to them, but sheer necessity, 



310 THE BLACK MAN'S GENIUS AND ACHIEVEMENTS. 

because the white officers of these companies, feeling 
that the colored soldiers were put in the front of the 
battle owing to their complexion, were not willing to 
risk their lives, and had thrown up their commissions. 
On the 20th of June, these two officers were put to the 
test, and nobly did they maintain their former rep- 
utation for bravery. Captain Howard leading the 
way, they charged upon the enemy's rifle pits — drove 
them out and took possession, and held them for three 
hours, in the face of a raking fire of artillery. Sev- 
eral times the blacks were so completely hidden from 
view by the smoke of their own guns and the enemy's 
heavy cannon, that they could not be seen. It was at 
this time that Captain Howard exhibited his splendid 
powers as a commander. The negroes never hesitated, 
never flinched, but gallantly did their duty. 

Amid the roar of artillery and the rattling of mus- 
ketry, the groans of the wounded and the ghastly 
appearance of the dead, the heroic and the intrepid 
Howard was the same. He never said to his men, 
" Go," but always, " Follow me." At last, when many 
of their men were killed, and the severe fire of the 
enemy's artillery seemed to mow down every thing be- 
fore it, these brave men were compelled to fall back 
from the pits which they had so triumphantly taken. 

At nightfall, General Banks paid the negro officers 
a high compliment, shaking the hand of Captain How- 
ard, and congratulating him on his return, and telling 
his aids that this man was worthy of a more elevated 
place. Great amount of prejudice was conquered 
that day by the intrepid Howard and his companions. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 



From Frederick Douglass' Monthly. 

"Though Mr. Brown's book may stand alone upon its 
own merits, and stand strong, yet while reading its interesting 
pages, — abounding in fact and argument, replete with elo- 
quence, logic, and learning, — clothed with simple yet eloquent 
language, it is hard to repress the inquiry, Whence has this 
man this knowledge ? He seems to have read and remem- 
bered nearly every thing which has been written or said 
respecting the ability of the negro, and has condensed and 
arranged the whole into an admirable argument, calculated 
both to interest and convince." 

From the Liberator. 

" Rapid Sale. — We are informed that the first edition 
of ' The Black Man,' the new work by Wm. Wells 
Brown, has been sold, and a second is to be published in a 
few days. Such rapid sale of a book devoted entirely to an 
exhibition of the genius, the talent, and the heroism of the 
hated Negro, and advocating his elevation and equality, 
shows that a great change has come over the minds of the 
American people, and that justice to a long injured class is 
not far off. This work has done good service among those 
who are impregnated with the idea that the blacks were 
created for nothing but slaves. The new edition will be re- 
vised and enlarged, and will contain an original sketch of the 
heroic and daring charge of the First Louisiana Regiment 
at Port Hudson. The price of the book will remain the 
same — $1.00." 

From the New York Anti-Slavery Standard. 

" In ' The Black Man,' Mr. Brown gives us authentic 
and well written sketches of more than fifty colored men and 
women, of the past and present time, who, by their talents, 
attainments, and earnest devotion to the welfare of their race, 

(311) 



312 OPINIONS OF THE FRESS. 

have made themselves more or less eminent, and whose lives 
and labors afford the best possible illustration of the intellec- 
tual and moral capacity of* the Negro, and the best possible 
answer to those who make his alleged inferiority an excuse 
for his enslavement." 

From the New York Herald of Progress. 
"Mr. Brown has given us an interesting work. The 
subjects of the biographies are well chosen to exhibit the 
versatility and range of the genius of the African race. 
Science and Philosophy, Literature and the Arts, are shown 
to be richly indebted to it. Mr. Brown's book is an incon- 
testable argument." 

Prom the Boston Transcript. 

" The Black Man : His Antecedents, His Genius, and His 

Achievements. — This is the title of a new book by Wm. 

Wells Brown, the well-known lecturer and able advocate 

of his race. The work comprises fifty-three biographical 

sketches of persons of pure or mixed African descent who, in 

modern times, have been representative men and women, 

besides reference to many illustrious names among the 

ancients. This is the best account of the ability of the Negro 

ever put in print. The genius of the race is well brought 

out." 

From Zion's Herald, of Boston. 

" This is just the book for the crisis. We would that 
every pro-slavery man in the country would read it." 

From Hon. Gerrit Smith. 

"Peterboro', December, 1S62. 

" Wm. Wells Brown. My dear Sir : I am glad that you 
have written such a book. It will do great good. Send me 
five dollars' worth of it. Heaven bless you. 

Your friend, Gerritt Smith." 

From Lewis Tappan, Esq. 
Lewis Tappan, in his Cooper Institute Speech, on the 5th 
of January, 1863, said: "This is just the book for the hour; 
it will do more for the colored man's elevation than any work 
yet published." 

31+77-1 



